Hate or Fear
by W. Vandom
Summary: Will believes that everyone she loves is growing away from her but is it true hate from them or her fear of it happening that is making her see it? On top of that Phobos is plotting against her though it may just end up backfiring on himself.
1. Chapter 1

Hate or Fear

Original story idea by Wilhelmina Vandom

I personally love both very angsty and very waffy stories and am sad that some of my favorite stories haven't been updated for some time. I created an account just so I can continue some of my favorite ones or add my own twists to them as a couple doesn't look as abandoned as I thought. Anyways I won't write any of them without getting permission first and so far I got that from two of my favorite authors so far.

Saying that Wilhelmina Vandom asked me to give a small message to her readers. She says that she misses writing and loves all her fans and is sorry for disappearing like she did. She had some personal things to deal with that forced her to stop writing but she is doing good now going to college and getting ready to get married.

With that being said I hope you enjoy this story though the first chapter will have large parts being straight from the original with some new material by me. Next chapter will be partly the same but I will have a lot more of my own stuff in it.

I do have a question for everyone. Just how the hell do you make a line break? The little line that goes across the page?

Despite all the grief from idiots like Uriah and the complete utter boredom of classes nothing could ruin the girl's mood. Will was stuffing everything in her locker as she had spent every minute of free time she had that day working as hard as she could to get all her homework done just so she could concentrate on tonight. She had nothing left to take home and work on thankfully as despite all odds she finished everything including her worst subjects. Nothing could kill Will's mood as she finally closed the locker sealing her books and homework within. Tonight was going to be perfect and she refused to let anything bring down her mood including a certain blonde who was having a tantrum over the abduction of Elyon Brown.

It was hard not to let Cornelia's anger over the matter affect Will though when the red haired girl often agreed with the blonde's harsh words. Of course her mind didn't agree with Cornelia as it sided with Yan Lin saying it wasn't her fault. Will really did do her best and did what she was sure was right but in the end it backfired. Elyon believed the lies told to her by Cedric and freely left with the snake making it less of an actual abduction but she was gone all the same.

Thankfully Yan Lin's granddaughter Hay Lin was there to cheer Will up and kept the red head from falling too far into the abyss. With all of Will's problems at home combined with the whole guardian thing the situation with Elyon was threatening to crush her under all of the stress. Her heart was filled of pain and anguish and it was convinced of her being at fault. It knew and understood where the blonde guardian was coming from though and did her best to not let Cornelia's rants bother her as much as they first did.

She wasn't Supergirl though and her heart wasn't invulnerable, especially when Cornelia had said, 'No wonder your own mother prefers spending time with your teacher than you!' Will could see the apologetic look that flashed in the blonde girl's eyes as soon as she said it but she did. It hurt, it hurt a lot as it was something that the red head had been thinking for some time. Will did her best to ignore it though as she looked forward to tonight as it would prove that her mother truly did love her.

For two months she had saved and planned for this one night and all of her hard work would pay off in just a few short hours. She worked very hard taking all the extra hours she could around school work and balancing her home life with her guardian duties. She paid a months salary at the Olsen Pet Shop just to pay for the mother and daughter deluxe package for the fundraiser tonight. The other month went into buying herself a beautiful black evening gown and heels that matched so she would look nice.

Tonight was something Will wanted to do for her mother as much as for herself. The younger Vandom wanted to share some quality time with her mother and try to make up for some of the fighting that had been going on between them. She also wanted to make this night a good one for her mother by telling the older woman that she had Will's blessing to see Dean. Of course Will wasn't happy that her mother was dating her history teacher but the red head wanted her to be happy.

Will knew that this wouldn't make up for everything and she was no fool, she knew there would be more fights in the future. She knew that she would have to skip school or sneak out to take care of guardian business. If she could just tell her mother she knew everything would be fine but she couldn't as it would effect all of the girls as well. Yan Lin warned all the girls about telling their families and they agreed not to.

Seeing a girl with long blonde hair heading her way while glaring hatefully made Will sigh but thankfully Cornelia was flanked by the other three guardians as well. Maybe the group could actually have a nice civil discussion for once. Will knew there wasn't much chance of that but she kept reminding herself about tonight and how nice it would be to have real quality time with her mother.

"Guess what Cornelia has!" Hay Lin cried happily as the other four guardians joined Will just as she started to walk away from her locker while the blonde was trying to silence her. "She has five front row and back stage passes to tonight's VMJ concert!"

"It's going to be so cool, Will!" Taranee squealed with excitement though no where near as hyper as the Asian girl was. Then again Taranee hardly ever squealed like that so to see that meant that she was extremely excited and happy which made Will smile a bit.

"I can't believe I'm going to meet VMJ in person!" Irma said happily, "You can come, can't you?"

"No, she can't!" Cornelia snapped angrily, "I told you I'm only taking my friends."

"Will is our friend." Taranee said while turning to face Cornelia a little angrily.

"I'd rather take a Grumper before her!" Cornelia snarled pointing at Will.

"If you don't take her then I'm not going either!" Hay Lin said visibly upset with the situation. Will herself was a little hurt by it since when the concert was announced and the tickets went on sale Cornelia bragged about how her father would buy tickets. The blonde promised that she would be taking them. Of course no one really believed it would happen as the tickets sold-out almost as fast as they were made available. Cornelia made her intentions clear about what she planned and thought about the red head and it crushed the girl. Cornelia stood there glaring daggers at Will refusing to back down which even hurt Will further.

Steeling her nerves and pushing everything out of her mind despite how much it hurt Will turned to Hay Lin. She refused to let the spoiled blonde ruin the perfect night Will had planned.

"It's okay Hay Lin, I already had plans tonight anyways." Will sighed trying her best not to show the hurt she was feeling. She didn't think anything would have been able to hurt her today but once again was proven how wrong she often was lately.

"What kind of plans could you have that is possibly more important than VMJ?" Irma asked in shock shooting Cornelia an angry glance, "I'm sure we can convince her royal bitchiness to give up one of her tickets."

"Three words, Breast Cancer Fundraiser." Will said holding up three fingers causing Irma to smack her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Oh man, I forgot that was tonight!" Irma whined, "I promised my dad I'd go with Anna to it."

"Why would your mother even want to spend time with you?" Cornelia growled angrily at the redhead but gulped when four pairs of angry eyes turned to her.

"I'd love to stay and continue this," Will said swallowing the lump in her throat, she refused to cry in front of the blonde. "But I have to go get ready. Guess I'll see you there Irma."

"Yeah, see you there Will." Irma called after the rapidly retreating redhead before turning on Cornelia. "I can't believe you, has that bleach you use on your hair killed the last brain cell you had?"

"I don't bleach my hair!" Cornelia snarled glaring at Irma.

"Could have fooled me, bleach for brains! Can't you see what you are doing to her? She's our friend!" Irma snapped, Hay Lin and Taranee getting ready to break the two girls apart if they started getting physical. "Damn it Corny, she did everything she could! Will never asked for all this shit to be dumped on her."

"Neither did I but I'm dealing Irmie!" Cornelia snapped, "It's her fault Elyon was kidnapped!"

"Little louder, I don't think the FBI heard you!" Irma growled cracking her knuckles.

"Elyon was my best friend!" Cornelia growled as tears started falling from her eyes making a trail down her cheeks. "She might as well been my sister and…God I'm so worried about her. Who knows what those things are doing to her!"

"Oh Cornelia." Irma sighed, pulling the sobbing girl into a hug. "We are all worried about Elyon but it isn't helping attacking Will like you do. She's worried too and what you said, she is having enough problems with her mom and what you said..."

"Was out of line." Cornelia sniffed, talking softly with regret in her voice, "I…I don't mean to be so mean to her but I just can't help myself. I get so angry and I guess she's the easiest target to blame for it."

"Cornelia, Will understands you are hurting right now but what you said about her mother was uncalled for. You know how scared she is of losing her." Hay Lin said softly squeezing the taller girl's shoulder as Taranee gave the two embracing girls a hug.

"We will get her back, Cornelia." Taranee said, "We just need to stick together."

"I…I know we will." Cornelia said pulling away from the group hug. "I guess I'll apologize to her in the morning."

"Good, we can beat Phobos if we stick together but if this fighting keeps up I don't know what will happen." Hay Lin sighed.

WITCH

Will noticed her mother's car parked in the parking lot of the school as she was leaving and was tempted to wait for her and ride home together but decided against it. It was better to just hurry home to get ready so Susan could have plenty of hot water to take a shower before getting ready herself. She could give Susan a little time with Dean before their plans this evening after all the older Vandom woman promised that this evening will be all about bonding.

A little part of Will was worried though as she walked away from the school, a small nagging feeling telling her that it would be better to wait or her mother would forget. Will knew Susan wouldn't forget this time though, the redhead had reminded her the night before and again at breakfast. It was true that Susan had forgotten their plans several times over the last few weeks but Will made sure to remind her this time. She had nothing to worry about and hopefully when she told her mother she was sorry for the hostilities toward Dean maybe their own relationship could be saved.

The relationship between her mother and history teacher is what was scaring her the most lately. Of course other things frightened her since finding out what most people would consider monsters existed. True most wasn't really monsters, just people that looked different but the point was they existed and some such as Cedric could be really frightening. She could deal with that though, it no longer really scared her but the fear of being abandoned wasn't something she could face with her powers.

The fact that Susan was seeing Dean wasn't truly what bothered the red haired teen but it was the fact that he might take her away. Tony Vandom was mostly a good man despite the arguments her parents got into. At least he was until he started seeing another woman on the side then he got mean when he was caught. Susan had reluctantly forgiven the man but the man Will knew as a father was gone. In his place was an abusive bastard that ran off with some stripper.

Dean Collins, when Will admitted it, was a good man but after what happened with her father she found it hard to trust. She didn't hate him, in fact Will kind of liked him, but the fear was just too strong and it kept causing large fights between mother and daughter. In fact if she counted the fights caused by the relationship of teacher and parent outnumbered Will's disappearances and secretive attitude two to one. It didn't help either that Susan went behind her back to see the man until Will caught them, the same way Tony went behind Susan's back.

Thanks to the stupid arguments ending with the older woman canceling plans with Will or grounding the redhead before taking off for the evening with Dean. While those times were helpful in sneaking to missions unnoticed it still hurt Will deeply. In some ways the woman was acting a little like Tony though she wasn't as mean or physically abusive as Tony was. There was just so many signs pointing to history repeating itself that there was no way not to be afraid.

She was hoping that this night, the culmination of a little over two months of saving and planning could maybe help heal the forming rift. Will hoped that maybe by trying to accept Dean more her mother would go back to being the mother she wanted and the mother she so desperately needed.

The trip home didn't take Will very long where she immediately stripped as soon as she got to the bathroom and proceeded to get cleaned up for her big night. She hated dressing up like she was planning to since she was an even bigger tomboy than Irma. She wanted to look beautiful though for the photo that they would take of the two at the end of the night. It was a part of the most expensive package that Will bought. She wanted this night to be perfect and she worked too hard and waited too long for it not to be.

Turning off the water and drying off Will dumped the towel into the hamper and wrapped another one around herself and a third one in her hair before heading to her room to get dressed. True it was a couple hours before they would have to leave but Will wanted plenty of time to get more practice walking in her worst enemy, an enemy even more despised than the evil prince himself, she needed to get used to her heels. True they were low heels but she still hated walking in the things as she more often than not fell or tripped in them than actually walking in them.

Her outfit consisted of some black stockings to go with her strapless black formal gown and elbow length gloves. To go with it was a pair of simple low heeled pumps which combined cost her a whole month's pay. The other month's pay went towards the tickets that would be worth it as they would have more space and have a reminder of the beginning of restoring their relationship.

Of course what formal night out dressed up formally was complete without wearing at least a little light makeup even if it was something else she didn't enjoy. To her makeup was just too much of a hassle to be worth it. Yet again she was going to do it to look her best for the mother daughter photo, a reminder for both Vandom women of how fun this night was even if it was a pain in the ass to get ready for.

It took almost an hour to get dressed and to get her makeup to look perfect even after following the advice she asked Irma's step mother for. She had to admit the advice did pay off as she looked much more beautiful than she thought was possible. It was a little hard at first getting the lipstick to look right but by using a deeper shade of color on the outside corners of her lips and a lighter color with the same shade on the center made her lips look fuller even if she had to do it several times to get it looking just right.

If getting her lips just right wasn't hassle enough for her eyes still needed to be done and they were much worse. She hated using the eyelash curler the most but she hated the rest just as much. She just plain hated getting anything near her eyes like that for some reason. She even hated even using Vizine and while that did go directly in the eye the mascara's brush and curler always made her flinch. A part of her was scared of jabbing it in her eye on accident and made her wonder why other girls loved it. Pencils and crayons were just as bad as they always bugged her and she was frankly glad that she didn't need contacts because she would never be able to wear them. Thankfully if she ever did need them there was always the normal traditional glasses, right?

After finally getting all her make up just right and making sure her gown looked good she slid her heels on before practicing with them. Standing up from her chair she slowly took a step making sure to step first on her heel before finally letting the sole follow smoothly before repeating the same with her other foot. It was a little hard as she was used to taking longer steps but with the heels she needed a shorter stride with smooth even steps while using her arms for balance.

"God I wish I could have just ten minutes alone with the bastard who made these things." Will grumbled as she slowly made her way across her room and back several times almost losing her balance several times but thankfully regained it quick enough before falling. Her gown did have slits running from the knee down but it was still different than wearing a pair of jeans which she was much more used to. At least jeans didn't force your knees to stay this close together without making the slits even longer by accident.

Looking in the mirror it was hard to see the tomboy as a beautiful redheaded girl stared back but she felt foolish all the same. She felt like she was being put on display which was something she always hated and would much rather girls like Cornelia being on display as she thrived on the attention. Will hated the attention as that was all it was, attention to her body and not who she was. She wasn't a damn piece of meat for guys to gawk and leer at and that was sure to happen. She admitted she looked kind beautiful with all the makeup and stuff but that was just an illusion. She believed deep down that she wasn't really all that special as her dad would tell her she was ugly before he left when he turned abusive.

The fact was that Will was far from ugly, she was actually a very beautiful sixteen year old girl. She unconsciously believed the all of the negative things Tony had told her as she loved him and looked up to the man. She went so far as to even hide some of her beauty behind tomboyish clothes and using things lie minimizer bras. Standing in the mirror was a stunningly beautiful red haired girl whose body was equal to any teen model. In fact her looks could rival adult models if she put the effort in. Her skin was flawless except for a few freckles but those only added to her beauty. She was slim, not overweight but not too skinny either as some models tended to be. Her dress showed a larger amount of cleavage than she was truly comfortable with bit the dress was the only one she could afford. Her hazel colored eyes was large and beautiful, looking almost like honey. Her lips was full and a little pouty with the color making them look even more perfect. She had an almost hourglass type figure that was sure to attract even more attention than she thought possible.

Hearing the watch on her counter beep she glided back to her desk and pulled open the jewelry box sitting there holding the very few things she had for these occasions. Digging out a simple pair of silver studded earrings with a small fake diamond in each and put them in each ear before putting on a silver chain with a small silver cross on it. Next she took out a silver watch that looked more like a bracelet rather than her favorite Casio digital watch and slipped it on checking to make sure the hands were on the right hour and minutes as it wasn't the digital type that she preferred.

Getting up she went to her full length mirror one last time to make sure everything was okay as her mother should be getting home anytime to get ready herself. Looking at herself she hated to admit it but she was proud of how she looked, how beautiful she was even if it was just an illusion from the makeup and stupid dress. She normally hid herself behind baggy clothes and loose fitting jeans and cargo pants rather than dresses and skirts and tight tops showing off her curves. That was the reason she kept trying to fix her type to hide some of the generous cleavage that was peaking out.

Despite it all though she knew tonight was going to be perfect and she looked perfect for the occasion. Screw Cornelia, she knew her mother would come and the woman would be proud of Will and they would have a great night together. She was going to prove she was loved and was worth loving even if she had to dress up like a damned doll to do it.

As the minutes ticked by Will was beginning to grow more and more anxious as it was getting closer to time that the fundraiser would be starting. Taking a deep breath Will sat down on the couch and picked up the cordless phone sitting on the end table by the couch. Dialing her mother's cell phone number she waited as it rang several times before being sent to voicemail.

"Mom, it's getting late if you don't hurry we won't make it." Will said into the phone nervously. Why wouldn't her mother answer the phone? Surely the woman saw that it was the home phone calling so Susan had to know it was Will. A small part of her was starting to wonder if maybe she should have just waited at school.

"No, she'll be here I just have to trust her." Will sighed to herself as she replaced the handset n the cradle and picked up the remote.

"May I suggest a nice nature show?" The television asked before Will even hit the power button. The television came on by itself turning to the show it was talking about to show a lion stalking something but she wasn't sure what.

"No thanks, please just change it to some cartoons." Will said, her voice filled with the worry she was feeling. Usually the television would argue saying that PBS was much more educational but it must have heard the pain in the red haired girl's voice as it changed itself again. There was now a cartoon that looked like it was a Japanese anime dealing with cards but it wasn't Will's thing.

Deciding to flip through the channels herself Will started channel surfing looking for anything interesting that might take her mind off her growing worry. It was useless though as there just wasn't anything on. Her impatience was starting to get the better of her as she picked the phone up again hitting the redial.

"Mom, please call its important." Will said into the phone as she got the voicemail again. Once again hanging up Will leaned back having to stop herself from running her fingers through her hair in agitation. It took too long to fix her hair just right and she didn't want to mess it up.

There was nothing on television to help take her mind off the agitation of waiting for her mother to finally get home. It was now six o'clock and Will was starting to worry just a little bit that maybe Susan may not make it home in time for the dinner. Her mother promised though and the redhead had faith in her mother and though time was ticking away the older woman still had time to make it home and change and still have just enough time to make it. She was starting to worry that something may have happened but she was refusing to entertain that thought just yet.

Will was starting to wonder if Cornelia was right as her mind wandered over why Susan wasn't home yet. Cornelia wasn't right though, the blonde couldn't be right since Will's mother wanted tonight just as much as the redhead herself did. Susan loved her daughter, despite all the trouble the two Vandom women have been having lately they were a family. They would always be there for each other and Susan would be there for Will tonight, the redhead knew it. Susan just had to be.

Picking up the cordless phone from off the couch next to her for the third time in fifteen minutes Will worriedly dialed her mother's cell phone. She knew that her mother was going to answer, with each ring she told herself that Susan was going to pick up. Instead though she got the voice mail again.

"M-Mom…Are you okay? Where are you? Did you forget about m…Did you forget the dinner tonight?" Will asked choking a little as she fought back the tears that were threatening to spill and ruin the painstakingly applied make up. Hitting the end button Will hung up the phone and sat it next top her on the couch. She almost asked if her mother forget about her but she didn't want to actually say it for fear of it being true.

Picking up the remote Will started flipping through the channels again hoping beyond hope of finding something to take her mind off Cornelia's thoughtless words tonight. Truthfully if it was just tonight though Will would have been able to shrug it off but the blonde had said basically the same thing to her several times the last few days and a part of Will knew that Cornelia had meant it.

Will knew she was a screw up, she had always known it deep down though for the longest time she tried to prove she wasn't. Her father had left because of her, all the fights she remembered Tony and Susan having had been over Will. And this happened even before the bastard was caught cheating. She couldn't remember exactly what they were about but she remembered them and she remembered Tony screaming something about Will being stupid.

Despite the words overheard in the fights Tony acted like a caring parent when interacting with Will. It was something that confused her but she never questioned it. She didn't want to make her dad mad at her back then but overhearing the mans words even then started chipping away at the girl's self esteem.

If that wasn't enough to begin with there was her friends at Fadden Hills. Then again she guessed she never had friends there as they never liked her, they only felt sorry for her. When her parents got divorced she became a pity project among the kids in her class and that was all. She should have known something was up when everyone all of a sudden wanted to be her friend. They got sick of it quick enough though and sick of her and had no problem letting her know.

Her father didn't want to truly hang around with her and she knew in a way it was her fault that he ever cheated on Susan. Her old friends at Fadden Hills didn't want her around either though she guessed they couldn't really count as friends. Finally her friends here wished that she was never even born as it was her fault they had become guardians. All she was good for was causing people trouble and grief, after all look at Elyon. Will had wanted to protect Elyon and her parents from finding out the truth as she was sure they would be safer that way and none of them would have to find out about this whole other frightening world.

Yeah, it turned out that Elyon's parents already knew as they were refugees from Meridian. The two had kidnapped Elyon to protect her from Phobos and thanks to Will not making a smart decision of going to them sooner the entire family was Phobos's prisoners in Meridian.

She completely botched that whole thing single handedly proving how bad of a screw up she was. Cornelia knew about it and Will was sure it was only a short amount of time before the other girls realized that also. The only reason they were probably friends anyways was the Heart. After all Cornelia didn't even want to be friends with Will to begin with, the blonde made that clear the first day when snapping at Hay Lin about inviting Will over.

"No!" Will cried out shaking her head. She refused to cry or think about this. Her mother loved her. SHE DID!

Taking several deep breaths Will tried to change the direction of her thoughts as they were spiraling dangerously out of control. She was growing more and more depressed with each passing moment and it was causing her thoughts to spiral downwards as they grew darker and darker. Reaching over to grab the phone again almost desperately dialed the number instead of using redial but once again only reached the voicemail.

"Please mom, where are you?" Will whined hugging herself and leaning forward a little breathing a little heavily. "Please don't do this to me, please."

Just as soon as she hung up phone it started ringing making Will cry out in surprise and relief making her smile brightly as she answered it. She knew her mother wasn't going to let her down, that was her now calling to let Will know she was on the way home right now. Susan probably had to get her hair done or something and the appointment must have taken longer than it should have.

"Hey Will, you ready?" Irma's voice came over the phone crushing Will's spirits. It wasn't Susan after all but Irma, she should have known better. She had to have faith though, her mother really did care about her so she didn't have anything to worry about.

"Yeah, if I can just get used to these damned heels." Will said looking at the offensive footwear she kicked off next to her on the floor a little earlier.

"We're leaving in a few minutes." Irma said then whispered into the phone, "God Will, save me! She has me dressed up like some damned doll!"

"Come on, Irma, it can't be that bad." Will said laughing a little. Irma was her friend, she shouldn't let her imagination run wild like that. There were people who loved her though sometimes it was hard to see…Unless she was calling to flaunt her step mother caring more for her than Will's real mother did for the redhead.

"It is!" Irma whined, "God I don't want to go to this, I'd much rather be watching VMJ right now!"

"Come on, Irma, it'll be fun!" Will said smiling a little at Irma's antics.

"So are your mom and you wearing matching gowns?" Irma asked causing Will's smile to fall.

"She's not here yet, she's on her way now though." Will said hopefully.

"Cool, then I'll see you there." Irma said, "I have a little brother to kill right now."

"Yeah, see you there." Will murmured as the line went dead just after hearing Chris's scream of terror. Sighing Will tried dialing her mom's cell phone yet again and sadly only received the voice mail. "Mom, it's getting late please pick up. If you don't get home we'll never make it in time."

Sighing as she hung up the phone she threw it across the room before dropping her face in her hands. Taking several deep breaths she steeled herself and got her emotions under control before getting up and walking back to her room to make sure her make up was okay. Thankfully it was so she didn't have to worry about touching it up as it was a nightmare enough putting it on.

Dejectedly Will made her way back to the couch and tried once again to find something to watch and get her mind from everything as it was now fifteen minutes till seven. She knew that even if her mom made it home now it would make them run a little later than Will would have liked but they would still have plenty of time to enjoy the evening together.

She finally got her mind off worrying as the clock reached seven o'clock as she had managed to convince herself that Susan would be home any second. Stopping on an episode of the Simpsons Will relaxed a little and started watching it and finally let herself be drawn into the episode for a few minutes. It wasn't long though as she looked at the clock again noticing it saying seven fifteen when it advertised.

Susan wasn't coming…She would have been there by now if she was. The phone started ringing again causing Will to jump a little at the sudden noise before hurrying across the room to retrieve the it from where she threw it earlier. She tried hitting the talk button to pick up as she walked back over the couch and froze as she realized it wasn't working. She screwed up again and broke the phone.

"Vandom's residence, leave a message at the beep." Susan's voice came from the base where there was a built in digital answering machine. "Hey honey, my cell phone isn't working so I wanted to call and tell you I'll be late tonight. A few things came up that I have to talk to Dean about but I have some money in the cabinet above the fridge you can use to order a pizza. I'll see you when I…"

The message stopped when Will screamed as loud as she could after throwing the phone at the base knocking it off the table and onto the floor. Susan had chosen him over her again! And tonight of all nights! She heard her giggling and Dean whispering in the background.

Dropping to the couch Will curled up on it pulling the tickets she had out of where they were sticking out of the top of her gown and clutched them to her chest. Two months of saving, two months of planning and two months of hopes all destroyed because Susan cared more about Dean than her own daughter. Cornelia was right all along and Susan didn't care about Will. Why would the older woman want to spend an evening with a screw up when she could spend it with Dean Collins?

She started sobbing as she realized she had no one left, everyone she had ever cared for her had left her. She probably deserved it though, it would explain why it kept happening. She was a nothing in everyone's eyes and truthfully in her own eyes as well. A part of her gave up as she curled up even tighter.

Susan sighed happily as she dug her keys out of her purse for the apartment she shared with her teenage daughter. She felt a little bad about staying out all afternoon and evening but she left some money for Will to buy something to eat since she had to meet Dean at school for a conference. Of course the conference ended up becoming a dinner and a movie with him though a part of her mind kept telling her that she had forgotten something important which did damper the evening but it was still one of the best dates they had recently. Every time she started trying to remember what t was Dean would tickle her or kiss her making her forget for awhile.

Finally finding the key she went to unlock the door but was shocked to find it already open since it was after ten at night. Will knew better than to leave the door unlocked that late at night when she was home alone. Pushing the door open she shook her head at seeing all the lights on wasting electricity.

Walking quietly into the house so not to wake Will up if the redhead was asleep she closed and locked the door behind her. She heard something coming from the living room drawing her attention that way. Walking slowly into the room she found Will curled up on the couch wearing a black strapless formal gown. It looked like she had fallen asleep clutching a small piece of paper or tickets to something.

Moving closer to the sleeping girl Susan could make out fresh tear tracks on her face, the little bit of makeup having run from the looks of it. Feeling bad for whatever had caused her baby to cry Susan gently brushed the mop of red hair causing Will to mumble something in her sleep and her hand to open dropping two tickets to the ground. Curious Susan reached down to pick up the tickets she saw the price on them causing her jaw to drop, each one had cost seventy five dollars.

**"Hey mom, will you go to the Mother Daughter fundraiser at the end of the month with me? It's a dinner and the tickets proceeds go to research for breast cancer." Will asked, "I'll pay for the tickets, I'll save my pay from the pet shop."**

**"Of course honey but let me help." Susan replied smiling, happy that her daughter wanted to do something with her like this. They haven't been spending much time together lately and this sounded like their perfect quality time plus it would be for a good cause.**

**"Nope, I want to do this." Will said smiling when Susan agreed to it, "I know I haven't exactly been very easy to deal with lately mom and I want to do something nice for you."**

**"If your sure honey but don't go overboard." Susan agreed reluctantly.**

Apparently she did go overboard, the tickets ranged from ten to seventy five dollars Susan had found out. The cheaper tickets were just for a cheap meal and reserved seating at the large tables that as going to be set up. The seventy five dollar tickets were in short supply as there was only twenty of them, ten mother and ten daughter tickets for ten private booths and a choice from the buffet or any meal off the menu as well as a framed picture of mother and daughter to be taken at the end of the evening.

**"Don't forget about the dinner tomorrow mom." Will smiled as Susan kissed the redhead goodnight before replying happily.**

**"Of course not honey, I wouldn't miss it for the world." Susan smiled, turning out the light, "Sweet dreams baby."**

**"Night mom." Will replied in the darkness.**

Susan couldn't believe that she had forgotten something this important to her daughter. She must have been the worst mother ever. She really didn't originally plan to stay out all evening but Dean kept flirting with her at the conference which she had to wonder if it was just an excuse to have her come by since it wasn't even anything important. He had just said that Will was making progress in getting her grades up a little.

Will must have had to save up a month worth of her pay as she only worked a few hours a night and was off on weekends as Mister Olsen had insisted that she spend the weekends being a kid, hang out with her friends and catch up on her homework if needed. He paid her thirty to forty dollars a week depending on how long she worked though Susan suspected that he gave Will more money than she worked for. The old man had once admitted he liked spoiling Will as she seemed like the granddaughter he always wanted. Still, Susan knew for a fact that Will worked hard at the store to earn her money so never really brought it up.

"What time is it?" Will asked before sitting up, a small yawn escaping the young girl.

"It's past ten Will, I'm so sorry." Susan sighed.

"Where were you?" Will asked, her voice growing angry as she glared up at Susan.

"Honey, please, I really…" Susan got out before being shut up by her daughters angry yet very hurt glare.

"Where. Were. YOU?" Will snapped, punctuating each word and nearly yelling the last as she got up from the couch with a little limp. It looked like Will's leg had fallen asleep after sleeping on the couch like that.

"I had dinner with Dean." Susan sighed, "Will, I'm sorry…"

"Don't, don't even start." Will said as new tears started streaming down her face, "All I asked was just one night but you couldn't even give me that."

"Will." Susan sighed reaching out toward the younger girl only to have her hands slapped away.

"If you didn't want to go all you had to do was say so!" Will sobbed, "I saved for a month before asking you and buying the tickets! I was looking forward to this for TWO months!"

"Will, stop acting like a spoiled child!" Susan snapped and paled at the look on the redhead's face. She would have preferred anger, hatred or even a hurt expression to the one that looked like her baby girl was dead on the inside. What the hell was that, of course Will was a child, she was Susan's child and baby but the way the older woman acted lately sure didn't seem like it.

"Geeze, I'm sorry Ms. Vandom, if you will excuse me I think I'm going to retire for the night!" Will said coldly, stiffly turning away to walk from the living room. By the time Susan got over her shock Will was already in her room with the door locked.

"Will, please open this door." Susan begged, her own tears forming at the pain she caused her daughter. Susan listened for any reply but the only noises coming from the room was the loud heart wrenching sobs emanating from the emotionally destroyed redhead on the other side of the barrier. Leaning back against the door Susan slid to the ground pulling her knees to her chest and crying herself at what she did, at her own selfishness and stupidity. She knew she loved her daughter but ever since coming to Heatherfield it seemed like a rift formed between them and it was slowly growing while driving the mother and daughter farther and farther apart.

"Will, please answer me." Susan begged turning a little and leaning against the door. "I'm sorry, please talk to me!"

After the absence of yet another reply Susan began thinking about how this wasn't even the first time she screwed up since getting together with Dean. Time and time again Susan had either forgotten plans or outright canceled them to be with him. True, a lot of the times mother and daughter were having problems but it was Susan's responsibility to try and fix the problems instead of making them worse by running to Dean to be comforted while she either left Will alone with no one to go to or straight up grounded her not even giving her the chance even if she did have someone.

It was at that moment that Susan had an epiphany, her daughter didn't hate the fact that she was seeing Dean. Will was afraid of losing her mother which was what was happening and the only person to blame, despite the aggression Will showed toward Dean, was Susan herself. This was all Susan's fault and some how, some way, she had to make it right.


	2. Chapter 2

Hate or Fear

Original story created by Wilhelmina Vandom

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Holy shit 9 reviews at the time that I am writing these author notes. I never believed that I would get so many so thank you everyone!

Thank you Aesop for the suggestion and I would have replied but when I tried to it said that you had PM's disabled. I was going to use that but both Sokai and Rokubi suggested using a tool in the live editor so I will try that first. Again thank all three of you for suggestions and instructions on how to use line breaks.

I got an email with a great avatar in it contributed by Alexis so thanks for the great picture!

I am thinking about changing my penname to something that won't confuse me with the original Wilhelmina Vandom. The only reason I chose this one is because Will is my favorite character from Witch but I don't want to cause any confusion so what are your thoughts on the matter?

This is the last chapter that will have parts of the original story integrated in as this reaches the end of the original story published by Wilhelmina Vandom. This chapter was pretty hard to integrate everything and took longer than I thought it would but hopefully it turned out as good as the first chapter. Starting with the next chapter it will probably be a bit easier at it will mark the first chapter that is a hundred percent original content. Until then enjoy this humble offering.

* * *

Last night was a total disaster and Will knew it. She laid in her bed debating if she should even bother getting up this morning as she didn't want to face another day. What use was there to even bother anyways? Her mother had proven that the harsh words Cornelia told the redhead and the feelings permeating the redhead's heart lately were true. On top of that, all of her failures as a guardian was making the feelings even heavier. In fact she was sure it wouldn't be too long before the remaining three guardians that were still her friends would side with Cornelia. After all, if it was Will in their position she was sure that she would do the same thing.

Thinking about Matt helped lift her spirits a little. She knew that despite their own troubles lately he would still be there for her. Despite what Matt believed to be flakiness was in fact Will having to rush off to guardian duty but he had been great about it. He was always there for her and that was exactly what she needed this morning, a good shoulder to lean on. Matt would help make everything better, he just had to.

Taking a deep sigh Will sat up and grimaced at the sight of her gown that she had thrown on the floor. She was now only her strapless bra, panties and stockings since she just didn't care enough to change. At first she cried herself to sleep still wearing the gown but sleep was something that was hard to keep a hold of. Waking up uncomfortable in the gown she got up long enough to throw it off and on the floor along with the gloves before crawling back into the bed.

Getting out of bed she picked up the dress and hung it up while smoothing some of the wrinkles out of it. She would get it cleaned later, she paid a lot of money for it and wanted to take care of it. She really wasn't sure why because she would probably never wear it again.

Grabbing a clean set of underwear, including one of her normal minimizer bras, Will grabbed a pair of jeans and a plain black shirt. Slowly unlocking the door she was relieved at not seeing her mother anywhere near by. She rushed to the bathroom and closed the door behind her locking it so Susan wouldn't barge in.

Looking in the mirror Will gasped at the horrible, frightening image that was looking back. She looked like a cross between a raccoon and the Crow and her eyes were burning and itchy. After carefully cleaning the makeup from her face she saw how red and puffy her eyes were when she took another look. Anna was completely right, sleeping with the makeup on could irritate her eyes, but then again it could be the fact that she spent so long crying last night.

Stripping her stockings, strapless bra and panties off she went through her morning routine of showering and brushing her teeth. After getting dried off and dressed she carefully peeked out the door. She could smell food cooking which the delicious smells made her stomach growl. She wasn't staying there to eat with that woman though, she refused to. Instead she ran back to her room locking it as she went to brush her hair quickly while debating about school. She truthfully didn't feel like it but it was the best chance for seeing Matt since she could leave early enough to meet up with him on the way.

Slamming her brush back down while her thoughts momentarily drifted off to her mother. It didn't take long to squash any thoughts about the woman as she couldn't exactly call her mother anymore. The woman didn't want her and there was no use pretending that the woman did. Their relationship was taking on new rolls but Will wasn't sure what exactly those roles would be yet. All she knew for sure was that whatever those roles would take it wouldn't be that of a family. There was just too much pain between the two for it too ever heal. Will refused to suffer or cause any more pain so she tried her best to not think about Susan.

Will believed it to be her own fault for being the pathetic girl she was, always screwing up and causing others grief. From her father to her friends at Fadden Hills, and now to Cornelia and even her own mother, she caused everyone pain. It surely wouldn't be very long before the other girls saw it and gave up on her. She only had herself to blame for the reason they left her and hurt her and she refused to let it happen anymore. She had to distance herself from the other guardians as well as her mother, except for business which would probably soon be over for her as well.

After all, how long could the Oracle leave the Heart of Candracar in a screw-up's incapable hands? The longer she held the Heart the more risk everyone was in. She always had a feeling she wouldn't be able to step up as a leader or guardian. She had hoped that just maybe, for once, she could succeed but she was already failing. She had single handedly caused the entire situation with Elyon by insisting on keeping the princess in the dark about everything. Some plan, Elyon now knew and sided with Phobos thinking Will and the others were the ones in the wrong. Elyon may have been right about Will but she wasn't about the others.

Cornelia had every right to be as upset as she was and Will was beginning to understand why the blonde hated her so much. True the redhead couldn't really pinpoint the exact reason as there were many but she knew it was there. How could so many different people be wrong after all? If it was one or two maybe Will could have argued but it wasn't just a few, it was her entire world, her entire family and circle of friends.

The only hope she had left was Matt, after all he promised to always be there for her. Maybe she could someday make a family with him and maybe be something then. Then again she wasn't too sure she could even do that right.

"What am I thinking?" Will asked herself angrily, tears starting to form in the already sore, red puffy eyes. "I don't have a family…I never even deserved one."

Will wiped at her eyes sadly before gathering her courage and taking a deep breath, throwing her bedroom door open she resolved herself to another day. She marched with as much strength and dignity she could muster through the small apartment. She didn't want to show any weakness in front of the woman she found cooking breakfast in the kitchen.

"Will, I cooked your favorite breakfast." Susan said, an exhausted look on her face as she turned toward the redhead. It was easy to see that the older woman had been crying most of the night as well but Will refused to acknowledge it, if she did she would break down again. She had to be strong as it was best for both of them, to keep Susan from feeling too guilty over something that wasn't the woman's fault. Will also wanted to keep from going through any more pain by giving into the temptations of living the lie, the lie that the woman had some kind of misplaced feelings of love for a worthless daughter.

"I'm sorry Ms. Vandom, I'm leaving for school a little early today, I have business I want to take care of." Will said coldly, summoning all her strength to keep from crying. She wouldn't give in to it no matter how much she wanted to. There wasn't any point in crying over something that wasn't there anyways, over something she never had. The woman standing before the redhead gave birth to her, that was it. It was a mistake that should have never happened and since it did it led to lie after lie causing both of them nothing but grief and pain.

"Will, please talk to me." Susan said, tears falling freely as she wasn't afraid to cry. Will knew the reason behind the tears though, they were over guilt not the misguided love Will wanted so much but knew she didn't deserve. "I'm sorry, I know I screwed up but I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, I'm not worth it." Will said hurrying out the door, running around the corner the opposite way of the elevator where Susan would have went looking if the woman followed, which Will doubted would happen. Will ran down the emergency stair well heading to the bottom with tears trailing behind her.

* * *

Susan had ran after her daughter but the redhead was already gone by the time she made it to the elevator. She didn't care who was standing there as she hugged herself tightly sinking to the floor sobbing hysterically over what she had caused inadvertently. She loved her daughter but she didn't know how to relate to the girl. She had tried so hard but only ended up into fights with her and Susan grounding her over them. Susan had done the only thing she could have by going to the only person she knew her own age for advice which had then led them to getting closer. She realized too late that instead of going to Dean for that advice and comfort she should have been going to Will and talking to her, comforting the redhead and in turn herself.

She didn't though, she had screwed up royally and she knew it. The worst part was that a part of her knew she could never make it up to Will either, she had lost her baby girl and the only one she could blame for it was herself.

* * *

Will hurried from the apartment complex after taking the stairs two by two instead of the elevator. She didn't want to run into anyone as she was on the verge of breaking down completely. What she just did was killing her as her heart kept telling her that she wasn't wanted. Her mind was rebelling though, arguing that Matt did and if she went to him he could make everything all better. The problem was she just wasn't so sure anymore but there was one way to find out.

Quickening her pace, Will hurried through the early morning streets ignoring the glances people sent her way. Ignoring her cell phone since the ring tone signaled that it was her mother calling the redhead came to the block where the Olsen house sat and almost lost it. There was an unknown girl with a dark complexion and long dark hair talking to Matt, the two standing very close together. It took all of Will's strength not to scream when Matt kissed the mystery girl before said girl hurried off.

Taking one slow and agonizing step Will stumbled toward the boy who stole her heart and now shattered what little bit of it she had left. She didn't know what to do or what to say, she had tried so hard to be the perfect girlfriend despite the whole guardian business. What did she do to screw this relationship up?

"Will?" Matt gasped when he noticed Will after she finally reached him. The look on his face was one of guilt and regret.

"Why Matt?" Will asked while looking away from the boy. When she felt the weight of his hands on her shoulders she shrugged them off and took a step back.

"I'm sorry Will, I was planning on telling you later." Matt said softly, "I never meant for you to find out this way."

"So you don't want anything to do with the screw-up either?" Will asked breathing heavily. She wouldn't cry, she didn't think she had any tears left to cry. She felt so empty inside now that the last ray of hope was extinguished.

"Will, you aren't a screw-up." Matt said firmly, "I care for you Will, I really do, but I can't take all of these obviously fake excuses. I tried Will, I will always care for you but I can't be with someone who obviously lies to me all the time. I can't be with someone who refuses to trust me."

"It's okay Matt, I hope...I hope you two will be happy together." Will said before turning to run from him. She ignored him calling out after her but looking back over her shoulder Will saw Matt running. After a few steps he slowed down and stopped with his shoulders drooping.

She still had plenty of time before school started but she wasn't too sure what to do. Will didn't even know what to think or feel as she never felt this deep in the abyss before in her entire life. There have been times that she heard about someone unable to feel anything, that they felt dead inside, but she always thought of it as just a saying. She never believed someone could actually feel that way but she did now.

Step by step her feet carried her on autopilot as she went over everyone that she lost in her mind again. Her father was the first loss in her life and it chipped away at her heart. Next up was the friends she had in Fadden Hills as they revealed that they only pretended to like her and the damage to her heart increased. Cornelia followed when Will screwed up the whole Elyon situation and made a mess of everything leaving the redhead's heart shattered even more. Last night a majority of what was left was destroyed by her own mother and the leftover was taken care of by her boyfriend just now. She could hope that the remaining guardians wouldn't abandon her but se wasn't kidding herself, they were friends with Cornelia long before Will and will be long after the keeper was gone.

Gone...

Gone was probably the best thing she could honestly do for everyone. If she just disappeared then she wouldn't bring pain to her mother anymore. The guardians could even find a new and much better leader without her. Everything would be so much better for everyone and Will would never have to hurt again.

Before she knew it Will walked by a multitude of students milling about the gates of her school while ignoring all of them. She even ignored the students who called out greetings to her. She wasn't interested in those fake greetings and false smiles though, she knew that none of them cared about her, they were probably just like the kids from Fadden Hills. To be frank with herself, not a damned one of them gave a rat's ass about her.

Walking onto the campus she spotted the girls all huddled under their tree…No, under their tree minus Will's. The redhead just never truly belonged with them. They only ever accepted her because of the Heart.

**"Why did you invite new girl?"**

Will still remembered that as if it just happened moments ago, the first words Will had heard the blonde say though the redhead knew they were not meant to be overheard. Cornelia had never wanted to be her friend, she always found faults with Will and though the redhead often disputed them deep down she knew they were all true.

"Will, over here!" Irma had called waving her arms in the air in a silly manner which would have normally gotten a small smile from the redhead. There wasn't any reason to smile though, not when you realized that in reality no one cared about you and no one would even miss you if you were dead. And the sad part was that they would probably be happy if she was dead, a lot better off without her around to complicate things.

Deciding it would be better to just ignore them Will continued up the path to the front entrance only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Spinning around Will found the worried looks of four girls, the blonde's hand on her shoulder.

"Will, about yesterday…" Cornelia started as Will pushed her hand away.

"Stop, you were right." Will sighed, tears trying to build as she valiantly fought them back. It was growing more and more difficult to do so though. Whoever said the more you acted the easier it became was full of it. "You were right all along, Corny. Who would want to hang out with a worthless screw-up like me?"

"Will!" Cornelia gasped in shock.

"You aren't worthless!" Hay Lin cried out.

"You aren't a screw-up!" Irma added at the same time.

"Will, what's wrong?" Taranee asked.

"Nothing, I just realize my place is all." Will sighed, "It's something I should have done long ago."

"Will, what's wrong?" Irma asked reaching towards Will who backed away, "Is this about last night? Why you didn't come?"

"Don't act like you all care!" Will snapped spinning away and almost running inside in her hurry to get away from the girls. She just wanted some peace, if she wanted people pretending they cared she would have stayed at home with the most guilty of that.

Walking stiffly to her locker she quickly opened the door to it and grabbed the books she needed for the first few classes. Hurrying towards her first one Will was hoping to avoid the girls. She was actually starting to wish that she just skipped the day as it would have been much easier dealing with everything that way.

"Will, can I talk to you for a moment?" Dean asked as she was passing his classroom. He didn't have any classes first thing and his classroom was empty which is where he led Will into despite her mind screaming to just walk away.

"Will, would you mind explaining why I got a call from your mother a few minutes ago with her barely being understandable? She couldn't stop crying!" Dean asked with a little anger in his voice.

"Look, just leave me alone, okay?" Will said while looking away from the man not wanting to see his smug look as she told him. "You won, you finally took everything I had left…Not that I ever really had it to begin with."

"Will, what are you talking about?" Dean asked, a hint of worry in his voice. Will shook her head as she realized it was for Susan not her. The redhead knew better than to think anyone was worried about her.

"Take care of her, she deserves to be happy." Will sighed, knowing it was true. It wasn't the woman's fault that Will was a failure. "If you hurt her though, I swear I'll make you suffer a thousand times more than I am."

"What's going on?" Dean asked moving towards Will who turned and fled out the door before he could get to her. She dropped her books but didn't care, she wouldn't be needing them in just a short while.

* * *

Cedric, in his human form, leaned against the railing looking across the landscape of Meridian with the princess next to him. He couldn't believe how shitty his luck was when he found out the identity of Phobos's sister. It turned out that she was the girl that he hired to work part-time in the book store. She was the girl who he actually grew quite attached to. Now he was expected to look after her until she reached the prime of her power just so Phobos could drain them and kill her.

Of course he could hold out hope that maybe the prince would change his mind but that would mean that Phobos would have to give up the war. Cedric couldn't blame the man for his anger and hatred at a world who shunned him because he was born a male when traditionally the first born was female. Meridian was a matriarchal society and that meant Phobos wasn't meant to inherit the throne and everyone around him was cruel and abusive because of it. Things only got worse when Elyon was born.

Cedric was close to Phobos as they were the same age and were drawn together since both were considered outcasts. Phobos tried to prove to everyone that while he didn't care about the throne that he deserved to have at least his own family care for him. His attempts was met with beatings which was enough to destroy anyone. It didn't destroy the prince though, it only served to make him stronger. In fact that strength was what caused his parents to try and kill him only for the Prince to kill them in self defense. It took less than an hour after guards rushing in to see the scene for the entire castle to be abuzz with rumors of Phobos murdering the king and queen in cold blood.

Two people kidnapped the baby Elyon and ran off with her to protect her from what they believed was Phobos's wrath. Cedric knew the prince would never hurt the child then but the years haven't been kind to Phobos with hatred meeting him at every turn creating the monster everyone believed him to be. Cedric had no guilt for everything he did, he knew that they caused it and deserved everything that they brought down upon themselves. Elyon though didn't really deserve it as she was innocent but the hardened prince didn't see it, he only saw the thing that he blamed for all his pain.

Now Cedric was torn between his still growing feelings for the princess, which was in a way now Taboo, and his feelings and loyalty for the prince. It wasn't because of their age difference, Cedric's nearly extinct race lived for a long time and as the Heart of Meridian so would Elyon. It was the whole being princess thing that was taboo, she was royalty and he was, despite his relationship with Cedric, a commoner.

He was very close to the prince though and he didn't want to disappoint or betray the man who Cedric loved just like a brother. In fact, despite the pressure that the prince had been under he loved Cedric like a brother too which made the whole situation even worse. If he chose his prince then Elyon may die but if he chose his princess then he would loose his brother. Sometimes his life just plain sucked ass.

"It's so strange, Cedric." Elyon said leaning over the railing next to him while turning her head so she was facing Cedric.

"What do you mean, Princess?" Cedric asked while turning his own head.

"Being a princess, and in another world no less." Elyon said while rolling her eyes over the title. "And please, don't call me Princess."

"And what should I call you, hmmm?" Cedric asked, humming a bit as his face grew a little closer to the girl's.

"And what would you like to call me?" Elyon asked back, her tone taking a teasing edge to it as she moved closer to Cedric tilting her head a bit. The two were just about to kiss when someone cleared their throat behind them causing the jump apart while spinning to see who it was. Miranda was standing there with a smirk on her face while admiring the twin blushes now creeping up Elyon and Cedric's faces.

"AHEM, Excuse me your highness but the prince wished to speak with my dear brother." Miranda said while rocking back and forth with an impish grin plastered on her face.

"Of course, please excuse me your highness." Cedric said as he bowed to the girl he loved before briskly walking out of the chamber. He grimaced upon barely hearing Miranda's mischievous voice before finally getting out of earshot.

"So...You and my brother?" Miranda asked, giggling slightly. "Spill!"

It took barely a few minutes to reach Prince Phobos's throne room where the man sat upon his throne staring down at the image created by his scrying ability. If Cedric didn't know better he would have sworn the prince had a concerned look on his face.

"Your highness, you wanted to see me?" Cedric asked bowing before his master who quickly hid the look under a cool indifference.

"Yes, look at this Cedric." Phobos said as a small smirk formed on his cruel lips replacing the worry. He was watching a certain redhead flee from the school she was supposed to be attending.

"What is going on, my lord?" Cedric asked, looking into the pool confused.

"Do you see how she runs from her problems, her supposed friends as if she has lost everything?" Phobos said, "While I admit to not knowing all that has transpired the pain in the girl's eyes is evident and from what I've seen she has convinced herself that she is alone in the world. It will be child's play to grab her now since she is running from school and her friend's are stuck there for the rest of the day."

"So you want me to eliminate the girl?" Cedric asked, a little confused as it didn't seem to fit with the look that the prince was just wearing.

"No, I want her brought here unharmed." Phobos smiled, "Make the girl's friends think that she had run away while we bring her here and convince her that she is alone…Except for us. If we convince her that we accept her we may be able to get her to freely hand over the Heart to me with all of its powers."

"My Lord, I don't mean to question you but what if Elyon finds out that Will is here?" Cedric asked a little worry seeping into his voice.

"Relax old friend, I am counting on Elyon finding her here." Phobos said turning back to the pool to see the pouring tears of the redhead as she finds an alley not far from Cedric's now abandoned book store. While the inversion point in the back storage room was destroyed thanks to the guardians, there was still the one in the basement.

"B-But…" Cedric started.

"I have everything all under control my dear Cedric, just retrieve the girl before she has time to rejoin the others." Phobos said waving the man off, "It will be so easy which almost makes it a shame. It will be nice to watch the guardians suffer and when I finish with their leader…Lets just say that the girl doesn't know what true pain is yet."

"Of course my Lord, I'll leave right away." Cedric said bowing a little before stalking off after his prey leaving Phobos to watch the sobbing girl collapsed in the alley in sobs.

Cedric did have to wander what had caused the redhead so much pain as she seemed the strongest of the five girls. She seemed to have the self confidence the others lacked but looking into those eyes…The same sad eyes she always had made him wonder if all of that bravado the girl showed was just all an act.

It didn't really make sense though as to why she would be putting on an act like that. Then again he knew all too well the stress of leadership can cause and the need to keep a strong front at all times, even when it was the most difficult to.

Looking her body up and down as she shook with sobs, laying there in the alley he had to admire her form. She was, as he found out recently, just past sixteen which was actually how old most girls were in Meridian when they wed. Or in this case, as some had become, more than simple servants to the ones who owned indentured servants. She was a very beautiful girl and had filled out nicely due to actually eating and living a healthy life. She might make a decent slave for his men as some of them had been becoming restless lately, but was that what he truly wanted to do? He even caught one trying to force a child servant to do something which Phobos took great pleasure in showing all his men what happened to sick bastards like that.

One of the few things that sickened Phobos was the people who took younger ones, girls no more than a mere child and forced them to do those kinds of things. Unlike the slaves Phobos took for defying him the Prince gave out much harsher punishment to those people. He enjoyed actually publicly flaying their skin off them slowly making them scream and writhe in pain. It was a great show that stood to warn others not to try something like that.

It wasn't because he had a soft heart, it was far from that. It was because as evil as he was that there were just some things that got to him. He never could figure out why and there were numerous rumors to why he was so harsh on people breaking those laws.

Taking a last look at the redhead he shook his head, he wouldn't do that to her. Sure he would enjoy breaking her spirit but something was stopping him from going any farther. He knew he couldn't let any of his men lay a finger on her body and violate her, for some reason it just wouldn't be right. He angrily shook his head as he started having doubts about the whole thing, he would go through with his plan. He would break her spirit and take what was his in the Heart of Candracar as well as the power of the Heart of Meridian. Perhaps then he would find the true happiness that he spent so long searching for.

* * *

Will couldn't believe she had fled from school like she did as it would make Susan angry for sure as that seemed to be the only time the woman paid any attention to the redhead anymore. She didn't care though, she couldn't stay there and have everyone watch her breaking down which she was doing now. She had collapsed in a filthy alley, not even caring about it or no longer caring if anyone saw her sobbing loudly.

"Well, you weren't very difficult to find." A male voice said, his voice soft, almost melodious as it held a trace of victory. Will shook a little as she hoped for it, prayed to herself for the man to finish her off. She knew who it was without looking up as she knew the voice anywhere as belonging to Phobos's right hand snake Cedric.

"Just get it over with." Will choked out as she finally sat up a little straighter to look up at him, tears still falling heavily causing him to look taken aback before he reached toward her making Will sigh in relief. She wouldn't have to feel the pain anymore as she would finally be put out of her misery,

"Wh-what are you doing?" Will gasped as the man gently lifted her bridal style, letting her rest her head against his chest. She looked up to see a slightly blushing man holding her carefully, treating her as if she would shatter into a million pieces if he was too rough with her. The way she was feeling she wasn't too sure if that was impossible or not as her heart already had been broken.

"Prince Phobos asked me to come and get you, he saw you and was worried about your safety in your current condition." Cedric said causing Will to shake a little more as she buried her face in the man's chest as he carried her out of the alley, the rhythmic motion actually gentle and calming as he walked.

"Great, so he saw how pathetic I am." Will asked, angry at herself. "I guess he wants to kill me himself."

"Actually, he doesn't want to hurt you." Cedric replied, shifting her weight in his arms as he reached out to open a door somewhere. Carefully Will craned her neck to se the book shop that he had posed as the owner of not long ago.

While having the weight shifted he also picked her pocket of her cell phone and kept it out of her sight but just enough in his to find MOM in the call list. He quickly punched a few buttons sending a message to the older Vandom woman before turning the phone off and once again readjusted the weight to better carry her more comfortably.

"Yeah right." Will scoffed, she knew better than that. She was actually looking forward to it as she was too much of a coward to kill herself and she frankly didn't care what Phobos did as long as it involved ending her miserable existence.

"Child, I basically raised his highness and I know him better than he knows himself." Cedric smirked, the smirk actually reaching into his voice. "I know he isn't planning on hurting you."

"Tell me another one." Will sighed, "The only reason I'm not making a purse out of you is I'm counting on what he's going to do to me."

"Really child?" Cedric asked walking down some stairs, descending into darkness scaring Will despite herself. She may have wanted to die but that didn't take the fear away of what would happen to her after she died and how it would happen. She was sure it would hurt but seriously didn't care much about it believing what ever the man could do to her would pale in comparison to the pain she was already feeling.

"Tell me something, lizard lips, do you have any idea what its like to lose everything you love?" Will asked quietly just before she felt lightheaded a moment before realizing they were no longer in the darkened basement but standing in a stone room with torches hanging on the walls.

"Truthfully child, yes I have. All of us have lost stuff we cared about but how we deal with it is what defines us." Cedric said surprising Will a little as he seemed kind, almost caring. "People don't make us who we are, we make ourselves who we are. Just remember that child."

"Whatever…" Will said as she couldn't help thinking that over. What the hell was up with this man anyways? They were enemies and he almost seemed like he was trying to comfort her.

"Oh my god, is that Will?" Elyon's voice gasped causing Will to clutch Cedric's shirt even tighter as she didn't want anyone else seeing her like this.

"I think she needs someone to talk to your highness, and a chance to freshen up before seeing the prince." Cedric said smiling gently at the princess, "Do you think Miranda and yourself could help her a little bit?"

"Sure Cedric." A strange, unfamiliar feminine voice said as Will felt herself lowered to her feet.

"Will, what happened?" A timid but very worried princess asked taking Will's hand. The redhead tried to pull away but Elyon refused to let go.

"What do you care?" Will asked angrily, though she wasn't sure if it was from Cedric not taking her to Phobos to meet the fate she was hoping for or if it was from being humiliated at Cedric leaving her in the broken state she was with someone who was just as bad as Cornelia when it came to hating the redhead.

"Will, I admit that we weren't ever very close but I never hated you." Elyon sighed, "I was jealous that…That Matt liked you so much and ignored me."

"You have to be kidding me? Matt doesn't want someone like me." Will sniffed, using her free hand to wipe her eyes a little.

"Come on, Will, lets get you cleaned up and out of those filthy clothes then we can talk some." Elyon said dragging a struggling redhead along with her and another girl with long, black hair.

* * *

"So have you retrieved the girl?" Phobos asked while raising an eyebrow as Cedric walked into the throne room wearing a shit eating grin.

"Of course your highness." Cedric replied bowing before the prince. He was sure that the prince wanted to see the redhead first thing but leaving Will to get cleaned up first. He had a feeling that getting the girl clean and dressed in clean clothes may have a greater effect on the prince of meridian. "I left her to freshen up with your sister so she can calm down a little."

"That was a good idea Cedric, perhaps it will help the keeper acclimate to her new surroundings as she will be here for awhile." Phobos said before mumbling to himself though Cedric clearly heard it making him smile. "I still wonder what could have caused that much pain."

* * *

Susan groaned as she cracked her eyes open while stretching out. Sitting up on the couch she rubbed her eyes looking around the living room unable to believe she fell asleep on the couch. She called off of work just so she could wait for Will as she was originally planning to call her daughter off from school. She wanted so much to make up for the pain she caused her daughter and as much as she wanted to get angry over the way Will treated her today Susan knew she deserved it. In fact she didn't deserve to have a daughter like Will as she spent all day thinking about the redhead and all the fights that they had lately. She tried so hard looking at them all from her daughter's point of view and doing so brought up even more revelations.

Looking back Susan now realized that maybe if she acted more her age and actually listened and sympathized with Will then maybe a lot of the fights could have been resolved without both women ending up hurt. Of course Will did have her share of faults sneaking out and disrespecting Susan but how could she expect her daughter to respect her the way she's been acting?

Seeing Dean behind Will's back was a huge mistake no matter how much Susan liked him. She skipped out on and ruined so many nights of mother and daughter plans that there was no wonder their relationship was so screwed up. She truly loved Will, the redhead was one of the most important things in her life but ever since moving from Fadden Hills Susan didn't show it much and swore that things were going to change.

Realizing that it was six now Susan climbed from her couch while rubbing her eyes. The lights were still how they were when she laid down on the couch crying which worried her. Moving to the bedrooms, her pace quickening with each step Susan found that Will wasn't there and something made her wonder if the redhead even came home. Fear was beginning to grip her heart as she ran to the phone dialing Will's cell phone. After there was no answer she grabbed her cell to see if there was any messages.

IF NOONE WANTS ME THEN I REFUSE TO STAY AROUND ANYMORE SO I'M LEAVING. HAVE A GOOD LIFE WITH DEAN AND PLEASE TELL THE GIRLS THAT I'M SORRY FOR EVERYTHING.

Something was telling Susan that there was something fundamentally wrong with the text message as there was none of those acronyms but seeing it broke her heart. The small device slowly slipped from her fingers as she fell to the ground sobbing. She curled up into a ball crying as what was left of her world crumbled out from under her.


	3. Chapter 3

Hate or Fear  
Original story and idea by Wilhelmina Vandom

* * *

Sorry for taking so long but after rewriting this chapter a few times I ended up deciding to use this version as it fits best with what I want to do with this story. It is kind of a filler chapter I guess but the next chapter will be back to being longer as Will decides to finally do something with her time in Meridian. She will be heading out into the city and seeing how things are for herself and find out more than she expected to about Phobos.

I also wanted to thank Sokai, XV-Dragon and FFHannibal about the feedback on my name which is now W. Vandom since Will Vandom was already taken. And thanks to everyone who has reviewed or added me on your alerts.

If you want to check out some of the scenes I didn't want to use for this chapter as it just didn't fit with what I wanted to do it will be at the end of the chapter. I didn't save everything that I deleted to start over but what I do have is at the end here. Sorry in advance as it isn't proofed as I don't intend on using it in the story.

* * *

She had to admit that despite the dark atmosphere Will loved the garden with the black roses and murmerers. So far she had been there for almost a week and a lot of that time was spent right here admiring the dark beauty of the garden. It was quiet and peaceful there which helped calm her some but she still couldn't stop her depression and feeling of emptiness.

The meeting with the prince was shocking to say the least as he offered her sanctuary without restrictions. Talking civilly with the so called evil prince was a lot different than she thought, he was much different from the time she was kidnapped when first becoming the keeper, made prisoner and dumped into that pit with Caleb. There was something different about the prince, something that changed in his eyes and demeanor that wasn't there when they first met. The few days that she was there she even noticed that he slightly changed even more day by day. There was a softness there that should not be in an evil prince.

Everyone in the castle was actually a lot different than Will expected them to be, even her enemies. They all gave her the space that she wanted and didn't push her into anything though they were all friendly. They offered her friendship but they left her alone when she told them she just wanted to be alone. She barely spoke and only shared meals with them though eating with them wasn't something she would do at first. As she realized that they may be truthful about not meaning her any harm she began joining them for the regular meals. She refused to admit that it was the fact she was getting extremely hungry.

Cedric himself was a shock as he hadn't once talked down to her or attacked her. It was a strange feeling being around the one that she fought the most and actually have him help her. She tripped on one of those damned gowns the seamstress Aeryn Sun made her wear tumbling down a particularly large staircase. Cedric witnessing the whole thing didn't even crack a smile, instead he helped her up and took her to the healer. The whole incident crushed the whole image of the snake man being an uncaring and murderous beast.

Another surprise was Miranda, Will learned that she was Cedric's little sister and the two loved each other very much. Cedric wasn't the only one Miranda cared for either, she also cared deeply for Elyon as good friends or sisters. As far as Will was concerned, Miranda gave her the space she needed but offered an open hand for friendship. Somehow Will felt that the girl was being sincere which also didn't fit with the image the redhead had of her.

Thankfully Elyon herself had seemed to forgive Will as the blond tried to get her to open up about whatever was causing Will's pain. The princess seemed to legitimately be concerned for Will which was another surprise, but a nice one none the less.

Will sighed as the thoughts plagued her mind while she slowly strolled to the small pond where she sat at the edge taking in her reflection. She was wearing a gown that Aeryn had actually insisted she wore as Phobos was sure to like it. At first Will refused but she gave in to get the older woman off her back but she didn't do it for Phobos. Still, something stirred in her when she saw the look on the prince's face when he first saw her wearing this gown. The dress itself was all black with the skirts and sleeves loose and flowing. The bodice was tight and designed in a way to show off her bust while amplifying her cleavage with the dipping neckline. Around her neck was a one inch black chocker with a ribbon attached. She was a little uncomfortable wearing something like it but seeing the prince was almost drooling over her which brought a small smile. Who knew the prince had a goth fetish?

The thought of a Phobos with his hair dyed black and wearing black leather and lace made Will smile a little as she let out a small laugh. Picking up a small pebble she skipped it across the calm water of the pond leaving ripples were the stone passed. As odd as it sounded watching the water made Will think of her life and how similar it was. Will's life was like the water, once calm but it quickly grew unstable like the ripples. Now, after a week here her life felt like it was calming down a little once again but she knew that there was another pebble waiting to create more ripples.

"You know, you are going to get your dress dirty there." Elyon said startling Will as the blond sat down next to her in her normal robes. "You look really good in it though."

"Thanks." Will sighed as she watched Elyon run her hand over the surface of the water while watching the redhead curiously. She knew that the girl was going to ask again and usually Will would just shrug it off but looking up into the princess's caring eyes the redhead wondered if maybe it would help if they talked.

"So, how have you been liking it here?" Elyon asked, obviously trying to break the ice.

"Truthfully?" Will sighed as she looked up into the sky. "It's actually beautiful once you get over the doom and gloom."

"I know, I was a little shocked when I first arrived. I wish there was some way I could help the people here but until the veil is gone there's not much of a chance to fix things." Elyon said but it was something Will didn't exactly want to talk about too much. It reminded her too much of what she was and technically still is despite her doubts. She had to ask though as the statement was so wrong since Phobos was responsible but something was bothering Will about it.

"What do you mean the veil is causing the problems?" Will asked as she looked directly at Elyon, a little of her old fire filling her eyes.

"Will, look around you, in the sky. What color is it?" Elyon asked gently but her tone left no room for arguments.

"It's purple, so what? It's a different world things like that are going to be different than on earth." Will said.

"No Will, the sky should be blue here to. The veil is blocking out some of the sun making it hard to grow crops. To make it even worse the last couple years it has also been hurting the ecosystem even more by causing droughts." Elyon explained, "I know the people don't like my brother Will, but what do they expect him to do? I've seen him try and explain things to some of the rebels and villagers. Very few believe him while the rebels all shout out wanting his defeat and me on the throne."

"Would it be so bad being Queen?" Will asked though a small part of her could see the answer in the princess's eyes.

"Yes Will, it would. I know very little of this world while my brother knows everything that needs to be done. He isn't a perfect ruler Will, most of the older citizens don't want to accept him because they cling to the past matriarchal society and the younger generation is buying into that since it is force-fed to them since birth. If they would just stop fighting and actually try to work together then something could be done to save Meridian." Elyon explained, "I don't care about being queen Will, I just want to be here with my brother."

"We should have told you, Elyon." Will sighed knowing that it was the truth. No matter what happened after it was the blonde's right to know. "We couldn't tell anyone about being guardians but you deserved to know the truth about who you are."

"It hurt Will, when I found out everyone including Cornelia was lying to me, but I understand." Elyon said softly, "I know what it is like to hurt and I want to help you if you let me."

"It's complicated Elyon." Will sighed. "It's a long story to."

"Well, there's you and here's me, I don't see anyone else around." Elyon said with am encouraging smile, "We have all the time in the world."

* * *

Susan sighed sadly as she watched the TV though she wasn't really focused on it. Ever since Will ran away she couldn't focus on anything and her boss had make her take some vacation time to search for Will. No matter where Susan looked though the redhead was nowhere to be found. She hadn't been in to work at the pet shop, hadn't visited her friends and definitely hadn't been to school. As far as she knew Will could be lying dead somewhere and Susan knew it was all her fault.

No matter how much wishing she had done or how many days she spent crying nothing could change what she did. Thinking about all of her arguments with her daughter and trying to look at things by the redhead's point of view Susan realized that most of them could have been avoided. If Susan would have just sat down and talked to Will, if she only realized the pain and fear her baby girl was feeling then they could have worked things out. She didn't though, she just yelled at Will and sent her to her room.

There was so many times that the two had mother daughter plans and Susan would either bring Dean into them or blow them off to spend time with Dean. Ever since she got together with the man she allowed him to convince her to sneak around with him and many of those dates should have been nights she spent with Will as they did have plans. She truthfully didn't blow off the charity dinner though as Dean had called her for a conference. Things rapidly changed from conference as his touches and caresses and whispered promises distracted her from her original plans and they ended up eating a dinner and going to his place.

Susan threw the remote at the TV before leaning forward to bury her face in her hands while ignoring her growling stomach. She hadn't eaten much since Will ran off and only really did the few times Yan Lin came over and made her. Susan knew she was a wreck but she didn't care, her pain could have been avoided. All of her pain now was from Will running away and that was caused from her seeking comfort from her pain then from Will's actions hurting her which she now realized was caused by her hurting her daughter to begin with by lying and breaking numerous plans.

A knock at the door brought Susan out of her self loathing as she nearly tripped rushing to the door. Her shoulder slumped when she saw the old woman standing there carrying Chinese takeout.

"Don't look so disappointed to see me." Yan Lin said in a weak attempt to cheer Susan up.

"I'm sorry, I was hoping it was Will." Susan croaked out while running a hand through her dirty disshelved hair.

"I'm sorry Susan, I'm sure that she is okay and will turn up soon." Yan Lin said as she maneuvered around Susan and into the messy apartment. Susan sighed while closing the door, she didn't really want to deal with the elder Lin but the old woman was only trying to help. Susan learned her lesson about losing her patience and temper.

"Yan Lin, I really appreciate what you are trying to do but I really just want to be alone." Susan said while trying her best not to come across as being mean or ungrateful.

"Susan, do you honestly think you are doing Will any good punishing yourself so much?" Yan Lin asked as she sat the food down on the table. "Now sit and eat."

"Yes Ma'am." Susan grumbled following the older woman's orders.

* * *

"Wow, I never knew things were that bad between you." Elyon said, shock filling her at the way Susan treated Will. Of course she had a feeling that Will may have been blowing things out of proportion to some extent she also knew that Will was in a lot of pain.

"Yeah, so now you know." Will sighed looking back down in the pond watching the few ripples created from her falling tears. She gasped when Elyon pulled her into a hug but didn't fight it. She didn't sense pity coming from the girl, only concern.

"Will, you aren't as alone as you think, people here care for you including me." Elyon whispered to Will which for the first time in awhile the redhead half way believed it.

* * *

**Deleted Scene 1**

"Damn it I can wash my own hair!" Will growled as she strullgeled to pull away from Miranda in the lagre bath that she was currently sharing with Miranda and Elyon. She wasn't expecting the two girls to join her when she strippd and stepped into the large pool of water that seemed to stay just at the perfect temperature. At first Will refused to go along with this but the two girls wouldn't take no for an answer and shoved her into the large chamber housing the bath.

Will was shocked and tried to cover up when the two girls walked into the room carrying a bundle each. Before she knew it the two girls were stripped down joining her in the bath which made Will's skin to take on the same color of her hair from the enormous blush. Miranda tried to calm her down when she started scrubbing Will's hair.

"It will go much easier if you just relax and give in, Miranda is my handmaiden and insists that this is her duty." Elyon said though her tone was full of amusement. "If I couldn't get her to stop I doubt you will."

"I'm not criplled." Will said sniffing a bit.

"I never said you were my lady, but as the princess's handmaiden I am tasked to seeing to both her and her guests comfort." Miranda explained.

"I still wish you would stop this." Elyon sighed, "We're best friends you know."

"I know but I enjoy my job." Miranda said with true warmth in her voice toward Elyon which shocked Will.

"Yeah, and I bet you will enjoy killing Elyon when the time comes." Will said causing the dark haired girl to freeze up in shock letting Will pull away to the other side of the large tub.

"Will...I'm tired of all these lies. Can't we just drop them for now while you are here?" Elyon sighed looking over to the slightly hurt Miranda.

"She attacked us!" Will said but seeing the look on Elyon's face the redhed sighed and sat back in the tub. "Elyon, I don't care what happens to me and frankly I look forward to meeting your brother so he can..."

"He won't kill you Will, his highness is changing ever since Elyon came here." Miranda said turning away from the redhead. "I only did what my lord commanded but I did no more. I know who you all are and I could have easily killed your families to get to you."

"Miranda?" Elyon asked in shock turning to face the darker haired girl.

"I never lied to you princess, you are my best friend, probably my only friend. What Will says is the truth but I'm begging you to just...Please stay here. Your brother won't hurt you and I think he is starting to become more like the prince he used to be." Miranda sighed. She had been thinking about telling the truth to her for awhile but she was afraid of what her only friend would think. With Will here it wouldn't be long before the redhead convinced Elyon the truth which meant it would be best to reveal everything now.

"Explain now." Elyon said, her voice quivering a bit as she looked at Miranda with pain in her eyes. The three girls were now sitting in a triangle formation looking at each other.

"Princess, to explain everything I guess I need to give you a little more history of this world and your family." Miranda said softly. "As you know your brother was first born but to Meridian royal society that is a sin."

"How could that be a sin?" Elyon asked confused. Will could tel that the blonde girl was in pain as she was learning.

**

* * *

**

Deleted Scene 2

Despite the emptiness inside her Will couldn't completely stop herself from shivering a little bit as she walked next to Cedric toward the castle's throne room. She was now wearing an extra set of clothes loaned by Miranda that consisted of a simple blouse with pleated skirt that the dark haired girl wore to Earth. Will couldn't believe how concerned Elyon seemed and was even a little shocked when even Miranda showed some worry for the redhead's emotional state.

The concern from the two girls had to be an act though, why would they be worried about her? One of the girls was an enemy and the other believed that they were enemies. Despite the act and the part deep inseide Will that wanted to believe the girls was sincere, she knew better. She wouldn't be lulled into a false since of security only to end up hurting more than she was.

So to that end she mostly ignored the girls and only gave the bare minimum of a response when she had to as they more or less ganged up on her. They helped get her cleaned up and dressed in clothes that wasn't full of mud and dirt from the alley she was in. They kept asking questions while assuring that they wouldn't judge while telling her thqat she was safe.

Safe? She knew better than that, she was with Miranda and soon Cedric would be coming to get her to see Phobos. Either Miranda or Phobos could kill her while she remained untransformed and she refused to use the heart since she didn't believe she deserved to. She knew that by herself that there was even a good chance of the prince killing her without any help there.

Will just didn't care though, she could try and escape with her life but what would be the point? She had nowhere to return to, no friends or family to go to. No, she would stay and see this, whatever it was, out. If they killed her then the heart would probably return to Candracar on its own while her wishes were answered. She wanted to die, she had been feeling more and more depressed lately and with what happened with her mother and then Matt put her over the edge. She didn't care anymore, all she wanted to do was die and end al of the pain and suffering that she felt. If Cedric, Miranda or Phobos killed her then they would just be doing her a huge favor.

She had to admit, despite the dark colors the castle was breathtaking and that included the throne room that she just entered. Looking up the small flight of steps she saw her greatest enemy sitting on a throne with a strange look on his face, it almost looked like worry. When he noticed Will and Cedric enter ut changed quickly as a small smile graced his lips as he rose and walked down the steps.

"Your highness, I brought the guardian leader as per your request." Cedric said as he bowed a little.

"Thatnk you Cedric, that will be all for now." Phobos said while giving the snake in human form a curt nod of dismisal. Cedric bowed one last time in acknowledgement before turning to leave Will alone with Phobos.

"Why did you bring me here?" Will asked, her voice soft though sounding almost dead even to the redhead's ears.

"I was scrying earth and I saw you. I saw how everyone turned you away, how they treated you like trash." Phobos said while standing just a couple of feet before the redhead with his arms crossed. He was looking straight into Will's honey colored eyes with an expression of sincerity but she wasn't sure if she believed that. "I know what that is like, I know the pain it brings and the ache it creates in your heart."

"Sure you do, that is why you terrorize the people of Meridian?" Will asked in a mocking tone. "Look, we both know that I'm not going to fall for your cheap tricks so just kill me and get it over with."

"I didn't go through all the trouble of bringing you here just to kill you." Phobos said, "Believe me or not, I brought you here to offer you a place to stay where no one will judge you. You can even make friends here if you so choose."

"And I can leave if I so choose?" Will asked while knowing the prince would say no. She was his prisoner and soon to be victim, she was in pain but she wasn't stupid/

"If that is your desire, guardian, then yes." Phobos said while giving Will a small smile, "If you leave you are welcome to come back but if you attack again and make us your enemy we will have to fight back. If you force us to fight aback then I can not guarantee your safety but if you stay then I promise no one will ever hurt you again."

Will was taken aback by the prince's offer and the funny thing was that despite the doubt gnawing away at her she believed him. She didn't have anywhere to go back to on earth so there was no use in bothering to return to a home that didn't want her.

"If I stay would I be locked up?" Will asked looking deep into the man's eyes searching for any kind of deception.

"You will have free roam both inside and outside of the castle." Phobos said, "I will give you a room next to Elyon's where you will be free to come and go as you please. I will also see to it that you have your own wardrobe and have Miranda see to your every need."

"No, if I stay I won't make Miranda a slave to me." Will said crossing her arms while leaving out the part of not exactly trusting the girl.

"If that is your wish but Miranda is not a slave to my sister if that is what you think. Miranda is a bodyguard and handmaiden to Elyon, it is her job and one that she enjoys. Miranda has become close to ELyon which has...complicated things." Phobos said with a sigh.

"So you are evil?" Will asked raising an eyebrow.

"It all depends on your viewpoint." Phobos said seeing the girl shiver a bit realizing that Will must be chilly. It was true that the weather on Meridian was cooler than that on Earth thanks to the veil blocking out some of the suns rays. "It is getting late, perhaps I should let you get settled in before dinner and we can continue this discussion later."

"And what makes you think that I'm staying?" Will asked while quirking an eyebrow.

"You are free to leave anytime you wish but until then I will have Cedric show you to your room." Phobos said before pulling off an old looking skeleton key hanging off a chain around his neck. He tokk Will's hand and firmly placed the key in it. "That will unlock any door in the castle except for the dungeon. If you feel that you want to leave then you are free to do so."

"Maybe I will go look at me new room." Will said giving the prince a small smile though she didn't really feel like smiling.

* * *

Phobos slumped in his throne trying to figure out just what to do with his new guest but he just couldn't come to any conclusions. The easiest thing to do with her is kill her and remove the guardians as a threat until a new leader is found and by then it would hopefully be too late. On the other hand he did want the heart as it would boost his own powers considerably, maybe even to the point of being stronger than the power granted by the heart of meridian.

The heart of meridian, an ancient power that is only granted the th first born daughters of the royal family. It has never been known to grant it's power to a male in all of recorded history but Phobos planned to steal it from his sister. He would finish her off before she became like their mother, a cold hearted bitch who only cares about tradition and never about those around her unless it fit in her perfect world. Of course Elyon didn't seem that way now but Phobos had no doubt that she would change. After all, like mother like daughter as they say.

Still, he would be a blind fool not to see how close Cedric had become to Elyon. To make matters worse his little sister returned the feelings that Cedric had. Phobos had been wracking his brain on what to do over the last few days which accounted for some of his current temper as no matter what path he took he couldn't find one that wouldn't leave him screwed. Take the power that he believed rightfully belonged to him and most likely lose his best freind in the process or let Elyon live and most likely lose his life when everything was said and done.

"Damn it, why the hell do I even give a damn about any of them?" Phobos grawled slamming a fist down on the armrest.

* * *

Will couldn't believe the size of the room that she was shown to, it was probably almost as big as her entire apartment back on earth. It was all her's though according to Cedric and she was free to go anywhere she wanted. No uncaring and overbeaaring mother to boss her around. No so called friends to pretend that she was important to them until the going got rough. Just her and her freedom but in all honesty she would trade that for the mother she used to have.

Sighing as she laid back on the large bed while taking in the wonderful softness that was the silk sheets and curtains hanging from the canopy. The bed was fit for royalty and if she stayed it sounded like she would be treated like such. The problem was Phobos is her enemy and she sholdn't be there but it was also the only place she had to turn to. She wasn't a fool though, while she was comfortable and seriously debating the offer she also knew that she was in danger. Any one of Phobos's minions could attack her anytime to get at the heart since she had no intentions of just handing it over.

"Lady Vandom, the prince sent me to get your measurements." A voice said from the foot of the bed scaring Will. Jumping up out of the bed the redhead faced down an older woman in a brown dress with a white apron covering it with pockets along the front holding what Will belieed to be needles and measuring tape stiking out.

"My measurements?" Will asked a little confused.

"Of course dear, how else will I provide you with a proper wardrobe?" the woman asked, "My name is Aeryn Sun, I'm the seamstress here."

"What kind of wardrobe?" Will asked staring at the woman as she dug aroun in her apron's pockets. The woman was a fair skined, human looking woman with dark eyes and dark hair to match. Of course that didn't mean squatt seeing how bothe Cedric and Miranda looked like normal people but could change in the blink of an eye.

"Don't you worry Lady Vandom, I promise to make you look like a proper lady." Aeryn smiled kindly though it made Will nervous.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Will mumbled as the older woman came over and started undoing her blouse. "Hey!"

"You need to get rid of these clothes for me to get a better measurement. DOn't worry, you may keep your undergarments on." Aeryn said while maintaining her smile. Will let the woman have her way while wondering if she should have just ran when she had the chance.

* * *

"I think it's funny." Elyon giggled while reclining back on her bed while Miranda sat on the edge with a huge grin. They were laughing at the precdicament that the red haired guardian found herself in. Of course they felt sorry for what ever caused the girl pain but Will was now under Aeryn's expert care. The woman was a kind and gentle woman but both Miranda and Elyon knew just how enthusuatic she got over her work. Aeryn made it her personal mission to make sure the girls were all dressed properly. ELyon didn't know Will as god as the other girls but she knew the redhead was just as big a tomboy as Irma, bigger in fact.

"I heard her squeak out when I was passing Elyon, I can't believe how much she is fighting Aeryn. The woman was actually close to yelling from what I could tell, she was pised off about some kind of weird chest bindings." Miranda giggled falling back next to the blond. "Should we save her?"

"Aeryn won't hurt her and this is a good enough punishment about Will and the others lying to me." Elyon replied. She wasn't really mad anymore but she was hurt that they didn't tell her. especially Cornelia. That was what hurt the most, Cornelia had not only lied to her but she had been doing so for weeks if not months.

"They were only trying to protect you, you know." Miranda said as she grew more serious.

"I know but still, it just hurts you know?" Elyon sighed, "I had a right to know that I had a brother, it was my choice to make weither to meet him or not and they took that choicee from me."

"As much as I hate to support them, they only did what they believed was best for you." Miranda said sitting back up. "They care for you but so do we."

"I know, I'm not questiong it but there is something weird going on Miranda. Everyone is teling me different stories and the way my brother is wanting to help Wil


	4. Chapter 4

Hate or Fear  
Original story and idea by Wilhelmina Vandom

* * *

As promised here's the next chapter and it is longer than the previous one being just over 5,000 words before notes of any kind.

I do want to thank XV-Dragon and everyone on his forum as Well as Bonar and everyone else who has helped me by giving some really good advice on writing. I also want to thank everyone for all of your great reviews, I try to reply to all of them, but sadly I sometimes miss someone. If I do please don't take offense at it as I do love your reviews and take to heart and advice offered. And some advice by Sniper Fodder was maybe have someone pre-read my stories before posting to help catch spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes for my stories. So is anyone interested in doing that?

* * *

Will had to admit that talking to Elyon about her problems really seemed to help. The princess didn't have any harsh words to say, nor did she judge Will in any way. What Elyon did do was pull Will into a comforting embrace when the tears started, calming Will down. The images of Susan holding her like that many a times flitted through Will's head, but she pushed them out soaking of the affection and comfort the blond girl offered.

Looking up at the underside of the canopy Will wondered what she should do now, she laid awake all night thinking about Elyon and their conversation including Phobos. From what the princess said, the girl knew her brother wasn't the perfect brother that the girl's believed Elyon thought him to be. What she said about Candracar really bothered Will and the more she thought about it the more it made sense.

What did Will really know about the veil or this Candracar place? All she knew was what Yan Lin told them and in truth it wasn't all that much. If there was a violet colored barrier over the world though, it could actually be blocking the ultra violet rays that the crops and plants needed to thrive. Could Candracar really be responsible for a lot of Meridian's problems?

"Good morning young lady." Aeryn said as she threw the door open and walked in. It was something Will had grown used to, even if it still bothered her a little. Sitting up Will slipped into the beautiful pink robe made out of silk covering up her sheer nightgown. She would never have worn something like that on Earth, but it was something Aeryn insisted on as the old woman believed it was suited for a proper lady. In Aeryn's opinion the clothes Will wanted to sleep in was suited more to boys than a proper lady and the redhead had learned quickly that it was useless arguing with the older woman.

"Good mooring, Aeryn." Will greeted the woman as she walked to the glass doors leading to the balcony and stepped out to get a bit of fresh air, the older woman following behind her.

"So, what's bothering you child?" Aeryn asked as she also looked out across the landscape as a purple hued light spread across the land from the rising sun.

"Are you sure you aren't psychic?" Will asked arching an eyebrow.

"Of course not dear, what ever gave you that idea?" Aeryn asked though the mirthful smile made the redhead wonder.

Will debated talking to the woman about her thoughts since she was loyal to Phobos. Yet again the woman had always seemed candid and honest about the prince, more than once cracking a joke at the man's expense. Taking a deep sigh Will decided to go ahead and talk since she might as well start somewhere.

"Tell me Aeryn, what do you honestly think of Phobos?" Will asked looking at the woman, but had to turn away to look out over the landscape as the twinkle in the woman's eye made the redhead want to bang her head against something for asking this particular woman anything.

"So you have your eye set on the young prince, hmmm?" Aeryn said confirming Will's suspicion on the old woman's train of thought making the redhead blush a little.

"It's nothing like that!" Will snapped out, a little harsher sounding than she meant. "I'm sorry, but I mean is what do you think of him? Is he evil? Is he good? What is his deal?"

"That...well, it is complicated my dear." Aeryn sighed as she leaned against the balcony wall. Her expression and voice took on an older tone, a tired one as the woman sighed again. "The young prince...he is more a product of his environment than an evil man."

"What do you mean?" Will asked as she turned around and leaned back against the railing so she could look at the older woman as they talked.

"A lot of people called for his death when he was, but a child and even his parents tried to kill him." Aeryn explained sadly, "This isn't as peaceful of a world as your Earth is. Sure there is fighting on your world, but where you come from men and women are treated equally are they not?"

"Yeah, so?" Will asked remembering Elyon said something about Meridian being a matriarchal society.

"So to be first born and male is something no royal family wants as they would become the Heart of Meridian and that was a sin in the female royals eyes. No man is supposed to know that fact, and no one outside of the royal family is supposed to know either." Aeryn explained, "It is how the queens of the past kept power and kept the men under their foot."

"So what happens if a male is born first?" Will asked, a part of her fearing the answer.

"Sometimes the husband is put to death for providing bad genes and a new king is found. Either way they try and have another child and if it is a girl the Heart is somehow transferred to the baby girl and the son is executed and wiped from existence. As far as anyone is concerned the prince wouldn't have existed and until his use as Keeper of the Heart is at an end he is kept from learning magic and treated as a slave." Aeryn said, "Only women are allowed to know magic, and only the royals were supposed able to wield it except for the very few members of the circle of mages that served the Queen."

"How do they transfer the Heart from one person to another, I thought that had to be done willingly. I doubt anyone would give up power like that easily." Will asked, the answers she was getting only provided even more questions.

"That right there is the question, young lady. I don't know, the only person left alive who could possibly tell you is an old woman in the village." Aeryn said, "She is the last member of the Circle who once served the Queen."

"Well, there goes talking to her." Will sighed, "You still didn't exactly answer my question though."

"It is a difficult question to answer as it is up to the person to decide as he can be seen as both." Aeryn said. "Yes he lashes out at the rebels and the people who has mistreated him in any way, and many would say they deserve it. And yet, he is kind and gentle with children and those people who doesn't wish him harm in any way. There isn't much he can do with the veil up as the crops need proper sunlight and he is blamed for that. He does his best though helping those who really need it and he makes sure that the feral creatures that are dangerous are kept at bay away from populated areas as best as he can."

"I don't see how he can be considered evil then." Will said shaking her head, something wasn't adding up. Didn't Phobos steal magic from the land? From what she heard from Caleb that was destroying the crops, but he never mentioned anything about the veil.

"Child, your rebel friend only knows what he has been fed by the rebel extremist. Yes it is true that he is stealing mana from the land, but not enough to hurt anything. In fact the mana he absorbs isn't even directly linked to any crops or the farm land itself. What he absorbs is the latent energy from ley lines and from the air round us. If there were more mages then it may be a problem with them since they wouldn't have the energy to weave their magic."

"What about the woman you said was in the village?" Will asked, wondering why it wouldn't be a problem with her if the woman was a mage.

"Because she loved the prince like a son and didn't agree with the way he was treated. She was the head of the Circle until the Queen blinded her transgressions and put her apprentice in charge." Aeryn said sadly while rubbing her eyes. After a few moments of silence the woman took off a small, simple pendant and handed it to Will. "If you want more answers take this to the village and seek out the blind woman named Zhaan. Let her have this pendant and she will know I sent you and will answer all of your questions."

"What if the rebels see me, they will know I'm here." Will sighed, she wasn't ready to face them yet. She didn't want to face anyone from her past ever again, but if she did she wanted to know the whole truth first. If things were as grey as they seemed then it would be a cold day in hell before she lifted a finger against Phobos again. She was beginning to wonder if he was the villain the rebels and Yan Lin made him out to be.

"I will get you some commoner clothes and a large cloak to hide your face." Aeryn said as she started to go back inside. "And child, I sincerely hope you find the answers you are looking for."

* * *

Getting out of the castle was easy, but finding this Zhaan woman was much more difficult. Will was wearing a somewhat dirty and worn servant's dress in browns and withes, worn boots and a large dusty black cloak with the hood pulled over her head hiding her face in shadow. Most villagers believed her to actually be a rebel and was happy to deal with her while a few refused to speak to her because of that same belief. It seemed that even though there weren't that many, Phobos still had loyal people in the village. When asking what the people thought about the prince she received plenty of curious looks and plenty of people to talk down about him.

"He's a monster and deserves to die."

"I hope the guardians just do away with him, he doesn't deserve to rule."

"He's killing all of our crops, and when he doesn't kill he takes for his self."

That last statement bothered Will at first, it was something that she saw guards bringing carts of grains, fruits and other food stuffs. If he wasn't behind the crops dieing, was he behind stealing so much that the villagers were going hungry? Most villagers didn't really look like they were starving, though looks could be deceiving. Especially since she didn't really know the physiology of most Meridians making it hard to tell if they were malnourished or not.

Of course there were those Phobos supporters who had their own comments, some not very flattering, but still showed the prince in a nicer light. Those same people had some choice comments about the rebels though. Most of the comments about the rebels sounded much like what the rebel supporters said about Phobos.

"Phobos is actually a good man, but misunderstood."

"He saved my daughter from lurdics."

"The rebels cause more trouble that they're worth and they steal a lot of our crops to boot!"

Again, the question about crops coming up. If the rebels were so worried about crops then why would they be taking even more, taxing the village supplies even more? The question Will was asking herself if the rebels really were stealing crops or not. It would explain how a lot of them managed to eat since many were wanted criminals.

The trip to the village was beginning to become an even bigger headache than Will thought was possible. There were so many differing opinions that Will had to wonder if maybe there was a civil war brewing among the people as well as against Phobos. It was a scary thought as things already seemed bad enough.

"Miss, will you please help me? My granny is feeling sick, will you please come check on her?" A small child of around five or six asked as she tugged on Will's cloak.

"I'm not sure what I could do though, shouldn't you get like a doctor...or healer?" Will asked as she kneeled down to look into the child's eyes. Something was off, this girl was lying about her granny being sick. There wasn't any worry or fear in the girl's bright green eyes. Why was she lying though? Was it a trap?

"Please Miss, please come." The girl begged, her eyes growing wide as she implemented a cute puppy dog pout. Damn the pout, that so wasn't fair.

"Okay, okay." Will sighed, if it was a trap at least she had the Heart. She got up and followed the girl through the village and into a more run down section until getting to a small shack that had surely seen better days.

"Please go on in." The girl said as her features started to fade, her outline turning white before a gentle breeze blew the image away like a mist.

"Okay, that was...weird." Will whispered to herself as she began to hesitantly back up from the door.

"If I wanted to hurt you child, you wouldn't be alive." A voice called from inside stopping Will in her tracks. It sounded almost like the young girl's voice, but older somehow. "Don't stand out there all day and keep and old woman waiting."

Swallowing nervously, Will pushed the door open and walked into a dimly lit room with a straw mattress on a pallet in the corner, a small table with two chairs taking up the center of the room, a fireplace where most of the light was coming from, and a couple shelves with books, some kind of herbs and plants, and some pottery and other cookware. Sitting at the table was an old woman with long, stringy gray hair and wearing a ratty dark brown robe. Around her eyes was a strip of cloth wrapped in several layers before being tied into a knot in the back.

"I hear you were looking for me guardian, but if you think I will betray my prince then you have another thought coming." The woman said, her voice serious though she showed no hints of danger. "The only reason I led you here is because I am curious as to why you are asking these questions and not outright attacking."

"Are you Zhaan?" Will asked a little nervously as she stared at this woman who was leaning on the table.

"And if I am child?" Zhaan asked, cocking her head slightly as if she was looking straight into Will's eyes which unnerved the redhead a bit.

"Aeryn, a woman from the castle said to give you this and you would answer my questions." Will said as she took the pendant and walked to the table. She took the old woman's hand and placed the small pendant in it before closing it around the little trinket.

"So you know my sister?" Zhaan asked while giving a raspy laugh and signaling for Will to take a seat, "Okay child, I'll bite. What do you have to ask?"

"I want the truth about Phobos." Will stated simply.

"Are you sure you can handle the truth?" Zhaan asked.

"Yes, I want to know everything. I want to know about the crops, about why Phobos and the rebels are taking them. I want to know about his past, about the Heart of Meridian, about his parents, and about the truth about him. Is he evil like the rebels say or is he good?" Will said, trying to decide exactly where to start.

"You are growing to care4 for the prince, aren't you?" Zhaan asked with a mirthful tone as Will sputtered in denial. "It is okay to child, he could use a good influence in his life. We should get to your questions though so we can get them over with, I'm an old woman I'm afraid and only have the energy to sit here and chat with you for a short time.

To start with, I suppose it would be best to explain about the crops. There is no theft going on where it concerns the prince. The crops that is taken is for taxes, taxes that are much lower than when his mother ruled. The soldiers need to eat, we need soldiers to fight and scare of the beasts of the wilds, so therefore we need to feed the soldiers so they can do their duty to the people.

Now, as far as the rebels are concerned, yes I do believe they are stealing the crops. No, let me finish, the rebels come here saying they need food to keep their fighters healthy and in top condition. While many villagers are willing to give it to them, we didn't ask for them to fight for something we ourselves don't believe in."

Will couldn't believe what she was hearing, but it was making perfect sense. On earth people paid taxes to fix the roads, to run the schools, and pay civil servants such as the police and fire department. Here on Meridian, things may works somewhat different, but surely they would still need to pay taxes to keep things running. The rebels was another matter all together, was they really necessary? Or were they just there because a bunch of assholes got a burr up their ass and force fed the younger generation lies to keep the rebellion going?

"As to if I believe that Phobos is good or evil, would an evil man take time out to visit a lonely old woman and help keep her home fixed up when he doesn't even really know how? Would he take that woman's younger sister into the castle and give her a comfortable position to work peacefully and try to get the old woman to move there to?" Zhaan continued. "No child, I do not believe him to be evil. I believe he has done his best to make a bad situation better with what little resources he has."

"Okay, so he isn't totally evil, but what about his parents? What happened there?" Will asked, her mind debating wither this was all true or not. What did she know about the prince before coming here? Nothing, just heresy about how evil he was, but now that she was getting to know him she just wasn't sure anymore.

"Child, I can sense that you are still very confused and only grow to be more so. Maybe it would be best if you just experienced the truth for yourself." The old woman said as she took the pendant that Aeryn gave her and blew on it, a little bit of pink dust seeming to puff out in a small cloud of dust around the trinket before disappearing. She handed it back to Will before continuing, "Take this child and place it under your pillow before you go to sleep. You will see everything that you want to know, you will see the past as if you were there and you will find all of the answers that you seek."

"But what about..." Will started to ask before Zhaan cut her off.

"I'm sorry child, but this old woman needs to rest. Go home child and if you still have questions come the morrow then come back and we will discuss everything that you learned." Zhaan yawned, stretching a little.

"Okay, have a pleasant rest Zhaan." Will sighed as she climbed up from the table and started to head to the door.

"One more thing child," Zhaan cackled just as Will grabbed the door handle, "Don't be afraid of your growing feelings, the prince is hot I admit. If I didn't think of him as a son and I was about fifty years younger I would court him myself."

"Goodnight granny." Will said while shaking her head in disbelief at the old woman. She walked out of the small shed and started back to the castle.

* * *

The trip back to the castle was short, but it left even more aggravating questions than she started out with. She was starting to have doubts about the whole rebellion as well as none of her real questions about Phobos really being answered. It was frustrating to no end, but she was actually happy to be back at the castle as the sun was setting and dinner was probably just being served.

"Welcome home young lady, did you find the answers you seeked?" Aeryn asked as she met up with Will as soon as the redhead entered the castle. The two was walking towards Will's room where she planned to change and head down for dinner before her stomach started growling again. She shouldn't have skipped lunch, but she wanted her answers.

"Not really, I found Zhaan, but she told me it was better to experience the truth for myself." Will sighed, fingering the pendant that she pulled out of her pocket before trying to hand it to Aeryn.

"Give it to me in the morning after you see what you need to." Aeryn said with a smile while refusing to take the pendant. "And by the way we have already eaten dinner, though the prince was worried about you. I told him you just needed to get some fresh air."

"Thank you." Will sighed, she was thankful for the older woman doing that for her, but she was a little put down that dinner was already served.

"Relax child, I'll bring you some up in a few minutes." Aeryn said turning down a separate hall leaving Will to continue on her own. She slowed as she drew near the stairs deciding she wanted to stop by the throne room and talk to Phobos a little before going up. When she neared the throne room she overheard Cedric and Phobos's voices talking. At first Will was going to knock anyways, but stopped to listen to what they were talking about.

"Send out some men first thing in the morning to get rid of them." Phobos's voice said, "For tonight just double the watch."

"Of course my lord." Cedric agreed, "If I may ask though, how are your plans for getting the Heart coming along?"

Hearing that question crushed Will, she was actually starting to believe everything. She actually believed that Phobos was a good man and cared for others. She couldn't believe she was starting to feel for him as he just crushed the hopes of this being a place she could make a real home out of.

"Not as well as I hoped." Phobos sighed, though his voice wasn't annoyed or angry over not getting the Heart. Will didn't hear the tone of his voice, only the words as he continued in a hesitant voice. "I must get that Heart if everything is to work out."

"If you want the Heart so bad then take it!" Will sobbed as she kicked open the doors and stomped in. The two men stood staring at her in shock as Will tore the Heart away from her and threw it at Phobos. Before either could stop her Will spun and fled from the room. She didn't head toward her room, she ran from the castle out into the night.

* * *

"That...was unexpected." Cedric said, unable to believe that Phobos had finally gained the Heart of Candracar. Just what did it cost Phobos to gain the powerful talisman though?

"What have I done?" Phobos whispered softly as he slumped in his thrown, clutching the Heart of Candracar tightly in his hand.

"Sir, what about the feral lurdens?" Cedric asked making Phobos worry about the redhead. Feral lurdens were far from the lurdens who worked in the castle, they were creatures that some how crossbred with some of the more dangerous creatures on Meridian and had no more than savage animals. They were pack animals with long, razor sharp claws and ferocious looking fangs and only had two things on their mind, killing to eat or mating. It would be a cold day in hell before he let either happen to his redhead!

"I'll be back." Phobos growled angrily as he rose from his throne and stormed down the steps past Cedric. "Damn girl causing me trouble."

* * *

Will ran for about ten minutes actually making it a good distance from the castle. She wished she hadn't though when creatures that somewhat resembled lurdens dropped from the trees surrounding her. Without the Heart Will was helpless and she was cursing her decision to give the Heart to that lying bastard.

Backing away from one of them Will kicked a large branch as the group started coming closer, a wild and hungry look in their eyes. Picking up the stick Will swung it at one of the creatures knocking it away before another knocked her to the ground, pinning her down as it's fang lined maw grew closer and closer to her face.

"Get the hell away from her!" A voice growled out dangerously as the thing was yanked from her and sent flying through the air away from Will as the creatures circled around her and her savior. Taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves Will looked up to see Phobos standing protectively over her. It didn't make sense, she gave him what he wanted so why was he saving her? "If even one of you lay a filthy claw on her I swear I will kill all of you."

"Why did you save me?" Will asked, tearing up a little. She didn't understand, none of it made sense.

"Because I promised I wouldn't let anything hurt you and I intend to keep that promise." Phobos growled, throwing a ball of energy at one of the creatures as it jumped at him. Two more jumped at him while he was distracted, but he managed to wave his hand at them while releasing energy that sent them flying as well.

"Phobos!" Will cried out as one of the creatures did manage to land an attack, it's claws raking across his back and shoulder making him cry out in pain.

"Bastards!" Phobos growled out as he threw his hand into the air. A few moments later Will's hair started to stand on end making her worry. Suddenly bolts of lightning crashed down from the sky striking each of the creatures killing them. He turned to Will, his face scrunched up in pain. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, thank you." Will said, her voice shaky as she had never come that close to being killed. It scared her more than anything that has happened and yet she was saved by the one she didn't think would give a damn about her.

"Good." Phobos said before collapsing on the ground. Thankfully Cedric and a few guards were just arriving in time to help get him back to the castle.

She didn't know what to do for him as she followed them back to the castle, going directly to the Prince's room where they laid him on his stomach and Cedric ripped the robes clean off his upper body.

"Not as bad as I thought." Cedric said as Will sat on the edge of the bed just as the prince was waking up.

"I'm glad your safe, even if you are a brat." Phobos said, his voice a little tense from the pain. Will could hear actually relief in the mans voice, he seemed genuinely thankful that she wasn't hurt.

"Here, just rub this into the wounds, they aren't bad." Cedric said as he handed a bottle of some kind of salve to Will. "The only reason he collapsed is from using too much power. I'll leave you two alone for now, but if you need anything just call."

"Thank you Cedric." Will sighed as she looked at the small container holding the foul smelling stuff. Dipping her hand in it Will dipped a generous amount onto Phobos's back and began rubbing it in. Cedric was right, the injuries were barely scratches, but there were places that actually broke the skin and as soon as the salve made contact the man hissed out in pain. "Don't be such a baby."

"I saved your ass, you should show me more respect." Phobos growled out as Will continued rubbing the cream in as Phobos rested his head on his crossed arms.

"Why show respect to someone who lied to me?" Will asked, a little hurt seeping into her voice as she unconsciously rubbed harder making Phobos hiss a little more.

"I never actively seeked out the Heart and I never let harm come to you, so did I lie?" Phobos asked making Will think about it. She wasn't sure if he ever outright lied and despite her wanting to deny it, the man saved her.

"Thank you for saving me." Will sighed softly as she finished applying the salve. "DO you have any bandages in here?"

"No, you leave this air over night and by morning it will be mostly healed." Phobos explained. "And...you are welcome. You shouldn't have run away like that."

"Well, you shouldn't have said something like that." Will countered, I heard what you said about gaining the Heart."

"First off, whoever said it was that Heart I was trying to get. Second, you shouldn't have been eavesdropping." Phobos countered.

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have..." Will said, searching for a valid comeback, but couldn't. "Fine, you have a point."

"I can't believe it, you actually conceded?" Phobos asked mirthfully.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it buster." Will grumbled as she rose from her perch next to the prince and continued in a sickly sweet tone. "You need to rest and I'm tired from all the excitement, so good night my sweet prince."

* * *

After eating some fruit Aeryn brought her and getting changed into her night gown Will retired to her bed for the night. She didn't have the Heart so it was understandable that she was nervous. Maybe she could get the prince to give it back in the morning, but for now she was looking at the pendent she was given. Taking a deep breath Will slid it under her pillow, sighing out, "Here goes nothing."


	5. Chapter 5

Hate or Fear

Original story and idea by Wilhelmina Vandom

Story written by W. Vandom

Story beta read by MagicalGirl23

* * *

Sorry about the long wait everyone, but here is the next chapter and I hope you all enjoy it.

I haven't done it yet, but I wanted to thank cartoonloverfan101, Daydreamer, and Bluebell for your reviews. Since they were anonymous reviews I have to do it here. Thanks so much for your reviews, and I'm glad you think Phobos is like a real person in this story since personally I think there is a lot more to him than the show showed. Also, I loved Wilhelmina's stories as well as a few others and I wanted so much to continue some of them, but sadly only got XV and her permission so far.

I also want to thank MagicalGirl23 for all of her hard work on this chapter and by making it much better than my original drivel. She fleshed it out a lot and made it ten times better than it was.

* * *

"Worthless bastard." Weira snarled her normally coldly beautiful features, contorting into a demonic mask of utter rage. As she backhanded young Phobos hard, knocking the young boy to the ground. "How dare you steal an apple from the kitchen! You eat what I give you, and you are lucky you get even that."

Will watched in horror as what was apparently Phobos curled up into a ball sobbing. His mother stood over his prone form, sneering at the young boy in disgust. He was maybe six or seven years old, if that. She wasn't sure how she knew who this Weira was, but she had a feeling that whatever the pendant was, it was its doing.

Looking at her hand Will noticed how transparent it was which she should have been shocked over at least a little; yet again she was calm as could be. It was something else that she was sure could be blamed on the pendant under her pillow. The thing that worried her most was that she realized she wasn't wearing anything, but she knew she couldn't be seen which again she was sure was the pendant's doing. The question was, should she be worried about how the pendant had this much control over her?

"My Lady, I gave him the apple." A somewhat younger Zhaan quipped as she hurried into Phobos's bedroom before going to her knees before her prince scooping him up comfortingly.

"You may be his Caretaker and the head of my circle, but you can easily be replaced." Weira cryptically warned, a cold hatred burning in the Queen's eyes as she stared down at the woman her _servant_ whom was comforting Phobos. "Do not undermine my authority again, or you may find yourself facing my wrath. Do you honestly want to risk your life for a worthless little runt like him?"

"No, my lady." Zhaan sighed as she ran her fingers through the prince's long hair before Weira snorted and turned on her heel to stomp rather heavily for a delicately trained aristocrat out of the room. Will wasn't sure what to do, stay or follow the Queen as she wanted answers from both sides. Until she heard a softer whisper answer like it didn't know if the Queen was still in earshot.

"No, I don't want to risk my life, but for my prince I will."

"Why does she hate me so much?" Phobos sobbed into the older woman's dark purple robes as she cradled him trying to soothe him.

"It's because the heart that lies in your mother's breast is as frozen as her beauty, a shriveled lump of black ice." Zhaan whispered into Phobos's ear as she held him protectively. Then she softened, letting tenderness coat her features for a moment. "Just try and be good for now young prince and I swear things will be better soon."

Will looked sadly at the young boy before testing out her theory by floating through the wall following closely behind Weira. She knew that she didn't get along with Susan, ever since coming to Heatherfield their once close bond had seemed to deteriorate like water through a sieve. Looking back on it now though, she could easily trace the whole problem to two reasons. The first was of course her need to keep the guardian's secret and the other would be her mother's need to see Dean no matter how much it upset Will.

The first she really couldn't do anything about, it was something she didn't exactly want. Will did it though, tried her best to help and protect both her remaining family plus her new friends. Her mother though, her choices in the wake of the divorce that was something that should never have happened. First off, Dean was Will's history teacher and one would think that anyone would have enough respect for their child not to put that much stress on them. Will loved her mother more than anything, she wanted the woman to be happy, but seeing Dean while pretty much lying about it. To make matters worse, instead of being honest and open about the whole matter, which probably would have made a world of difference. Susan more or less was pulling what she considered "parental rights" showing she didn't care about Will's feelings at all. Hell, Susan even came out and said that during a few of their fights.

"I love you Will, but I love him to and it is none of your business if I date him or not!"

Yeah, Susan showed how much she loved Will then. Shouldn't her mother care about how much Susan's seeing Dean hurt her, stressed her out and made her life even more miserable at school. The rumors of Will getting special treatment from Dean was bad enough, but the ones saying she slept with Dean for better grades while her mom wasn't home was even worse.

"I can't believe that bitch!" Weira snarled to her husband as she stormed into the throne room where her husband sat lazily in his throne. The sudden outbursts startled Will, drawing her from her thoughts about her relationship with her mother.

"What's wrong now?" The King, whom Will finally realized that his name was Liam. He looked a lot like Phobos, and it looked like he had a somewhat kind look in his eyes, but his entire being was tinged with a deep sadness. One that Weira obviously didn't notice or didn't care to acknowledge.

"Don't take that tone with me you stupid bastard, if I didn't want your genes then you would already be dead." Weira sneered as she flicked her wrist, sending a pressure blast of energy at the man striking him hard. After crying out in pain and slumping in the chair the man took several deep breaths regaining his composure.

"I am sorry, my Queen." Liam sighed as he struggled to sit up straight. "What has upset you so?"

"That bitch was feeding him again." Weira snarled, her lip curling at the thought. "Is it too much to ask for my servants to obey me?"

"I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it, darling. Perhaps you should calm down before you make yourself sick. Think about the baby." Liam said, his voice smooth and calming. He fingered the tight metal band around his throat and Will immediately knew what it was. It was some kind of device that blocked his access to mana in turn blocking any magic the man could have used. It was why Weira wanted his genes; he was from a family that bred powerful mages. Cross that with a daughter who would hold the Heart then Weira would possess the most powerful weapon in Metamoor.

"If that bitch disobeys me again, your cousin or not, I will have her still-beating heart delivered into my hands. Do you understand me?" Weira growled as she fell into the larger of the two thrones with a disgusted look on her face.

"Of course, my love." Liam sighed.

Will couldn't believe what she was hearing; this woman was either insane or just so hateful that she didn't care about anyone. Compared to the way Yan Lin made Phobos look, he would be a saint compared to his mother. No wonder he seemed so cold toward Elyon, if Will was in his shoes she would resent the princess as well. She herself already resented Dean, he took her mother away. Her mother cared though, despite the fights and the way Susan seemed to choose Dean over her, at least her mother didn't outright beat her and regard her as trash.

Will sighed as she began to realize just how good she had it. She had a mother who never once lifted a hand to her, and until recently showed nothing but complete love and caring. A part of her wondered if maybe she was a little unfair to Susan, but either way she knew her mother was much happier without her. Sighing she floated back through the castle to the prince, but as she went it felt like time shifted and when she arrived she realized that it did.

Floating in the air above Zhaan and a little older Phobos, Will watched as the woman was instructing the young boy in something. The boy was holding an older looking book and was clearly concentrating on something in it.

"Alright, my prince, are you ready to try again?" Zhaan asked as she walked to the window and picked up a small potted plant from the sill. She carried it over and sat it down on the small table in front of Phobos while giving him a gentle smile. Will could see how much the two loved each other; it was like Zhaan was his mother instead of the Queen.

"I guess." Phobos sighed as he put the book aside and closed his eyes while holding his hands out to the plant. Will watched as he concentrated though she wasn't sure what he was trying to do. After a few moments the plant began to wilt a little, the entire thing making Will gasp as she realized what he was doing. Phobos was draining energy from the plant.

"Excellent my prince, as soon as you master this lesson, I will teach you to draw power from the ley lines running throughout the world. That way you will cause harm to none, but it in turn will give you all the life force you need to sustain yourself." Zhaan explained as she patted the prince's head who playfully swatted her hand away while she laughed.

"What is the meaning of this?" Weira demanded as she stormed into the room, her face looking much, much older than it should. She looked exhausted, but there was a triumphant smirk on the woman's lips. On either side of her was a guard, matched like a set of demented bookends, from the swords they wore on their hips to the cruel glares on their faces.

"Nothing, my lady." Zhaan said as she slipped the book into her robes as the guards surrounded her. Before she had a chance to do anything the two guards grabbed her and pinned her arms behind her back making her cry out and Phobos to jump at them only for Weira to grab him by the hair.

"Listen well, you little bastard." Weira growled, as she roughly shook the boy like a rag doll, "If you ever so much as think of trying that again and you will sorely wish you were dead."

"Please don't hurt him." Zhaan whimpered as she struggled against the guards holding her.

"What is this?" Weira asked as a woman looking similar to Zhaan, but younger walked into the room with a nasty smile. Weira walked over to Zhaan and pulled the book from the woman's robes and shoved it into her face.

"What is this, dear sister, betraying our Queen?" The woman asked as Will recognized her as Morrigan. Will was starting to get sick of the pendant, or whatever was behind it, providing all this information. It made her doubt the validity of everything that she had heard and seen up to this point, since if it could do that, it could possibly influence other thoughts as well. But somehow at the same time the feeling gnawing in her gut, the instinct that went beyond her guardian nature to where her own true self lay. It knew it was all true, and that in itself was frightening enough.

A third guard entered the room just as Zhaan was preparing to defend herself with a enchanted earring that was starting to glow as she whispered quietly trying to activate the stored defensive spells contained within.

"Now, now, dear sister." Morrigan laughed as she sauntered up to Zhaan and ripped the earring clean out of her ear. There was blood dripping from the elder sister as she screamed in pain from the sudden attack.

"Take my son to my daughter's room." Weira said as she grinned wickedly at Zhaan, staring hatefully in the woman's eyes.

"Please don't, it will kill him!" Zhaan pleaded as the guard dragged the screaming boy from the room. She paled though when she saw her sister pulling a vial from her robes, recognizing the vile instantly. It was the same vile Zhaan had in her lab for study, trying to come up with a cure for the venom from the basilisk. It was diluted now, but it was still very harmful and very acidic thanks to the additions Zhaan made in her failed attempts.

"I see you recognize this dear sister." Morrigan said, laughing lowly as she uncorked the vile and splashed it in Zhaan's face making her scream out in heart wrenching agony. The guards didn't give one inch as she thrashed and screamed in agonizing pain, the acidic solution eating away at her eyes.

"You will become the circle's new head my dear, and my advisor." Weira smirked, "As for you traitor, you are going to rot in the dungeon."

Will couldn't stop the tears from falling as she watched the event that caused Zhaan's blindness, feeling sorry for the old woman. She suffered so much just for doing what was right in protecting an innocent boy. The redhead couldn't help but shake in rage at what she witnessed as she was filled with disgust. This was what the rebels were fighting to restore?

Only this time she was more disposed to allow the pendant within her to allow it to take her where it would. And it did so instantly causing her to float off again, this time straight as she was drawn to a room where there was a small crib sitting in part of what she recognized as a magic circle. Phobos was standing at the side of the crib looking in, a small smile on his face. Will could tell that the boy cared deeply for who Will knew was baby Elyon just from the look on his face.

"I hope you never have to go through what I have." Phobos sighed softly, his eyes clenching shut as his hands held the side of the crib.

"Get away from my daughter." Weira screamed, causing Elyon begin to wail. "Now look what you've done, you worthless bastard."

"B-but Mother..." Phobos began to stammer before Weira grabbed him by the hair and roughly yanked him away from the crib with such violence it sent him sprawling towards the far part of the circle. Weira hurried over to where Phobos fell and started stomping her bejeweled foot cruelly into the young prince's prone body making him cry out in pain, begging her to stop as the heel of her shoe was causing him a lot of pain, fortunately though as it was blunt it didn't break the skin.

"Quiet, you ungrateful bastard." Weira growled, "You caused me enough trouble being born, but now that I have a real heir you are no longer needed."

Phobos sobbed as he laid there in curled in a ball of immense pain and sorrow, Will couldn't decide which probably a heavy mixture of the two. As a guard materialized quietly as if separating from the very shadows themselves. At first Will thought he was going to help. Instead of aiding the injured prince, the guard took a pair of manacles from some previously unknown hiding place. Taking extreme advantage of his injuries as he locked the unforgiving metal about the boy's thin, pale wrists before taking a third and bolting it into the stone floor next to Phobos so he couldn't get away.

"You may begin, Morrigan." Weira grinned wickedly as the younger mage came into the room, a look of triumph on her face as she clutched the book Zhaan had earlier with Phobos. She walked up to the edge of the circle, a wave of her hand lighting several candles around the perimeter where the points of a larger star could be seen. For several minutes Morrigan chanted quietly with no effect, but as soon as her voice began rising an invisible wind swept through the room in a circular motion beginning at the center of the circle.

Will tried to cover her ears as more tears flowed. She could barely stand the cries and screams from the young prince begging them to stop as his body convulsed in agony. Lightning began arcing across the circle as his body began to glow, the light filtering through the lines of the circle and slowly crept towards Elyon's crib. The entire crib and baby began glowing as Phobos's pain grew by the moment.

When it was finally over Phobos laid still where he was at, a foggy look in his eyes as he twitched every so often. Will wanted so much to help him, to go to him and make sure he was okay and to comfort him. She couldn't though as once again she was pulled along to what she realized was about two weeks later. Her knowledge of the time skip once again finding its way into her mind.

"I finally got the hang of it." Phobos sighed as he rested against the wall on the outside of Zhaan's cell. His face looked flush, his chest rising and falling erratically as he took deep, gasping breaths. "I can still feel the void where the power was...I can't believe she did that to me."

"Phobos, listen to me, you have to run from the castle and get away from her. You shouldn't even still be alive this long after the Heart was ripped from you as it left a hole in you that is leaking your life force. It won't take them long to realize what is going on, and the Queen won't be happy." Zhaan said, her voice weak as she looked blankly ahead, a ripped piece of her robes wrapped around where her destroyed eyes were hiding them.

"I won't leave you." Phobos said, tears flowing as he rested his head against the bars. "I can feel the power from the ley lines you told me about; there is so much of it. I can use it to free you."

"No, young prince, they will make an even larger effort to come after you if they do." Zhaan said just as a guard came up behind Phobos and grabbed his arm.

"Your mother wants to see you." The guard sneered as he yanked the boys arm and dragged him away from the cell with him demanding to be let go. It didn't take long for the guard to reach the throne room where Morrigan was standing to the side of the two thrones where Phobos's parents were sitting. Elyon was nowhere to be seen, most likely in her crib.

"So you still have enough life to talk to the traitor every day?" Weira asked as she rose from her throne and walked to where Phobos was brought, her thumb and forefinger roughly taking hold of his chin and forcing him to look into her eyes. "That bitch taught you to draw power from the ley lines, didn't she? Do you know the punishment for a worthless male to dare to even think about violating what belongs only to the women of the royal family?"

"You promised me to let him have him before you executed him." An older and cruel guard said, sending a disgusting look at Phobos.

"And so I did, I promised you the boy in exchange for spying on them and I keep my promises." Weira grinned, "Never let it be said that I don't keep my word. Just make sure to dispose of the body afterward."

"No." Phobos whispered.

"What was that, you worthless piece of shit?" Weira demanded as she backhanded Phobos hard.

"I said NO!" Phobos whispered, screaming the last part as his eyes flashed with power. Morrigan tried throwing a bolt of lightning at him, but a shield sprang to life and redirected it back at her leaving only a pile of ash.

"Phobos, you will stop this nonsense right now." Liam demanded as he rose from his throne, only to have Phobos throw his hand in an arc launching a thin arc of power toward his parents. As it passed both of them it rather neatly cut them in half, their upper bodies sliding off their lower bodies. No blood was spilled though as the arc of power was super heated that it cauterized the wounds, burning them shut. Only the equally surprised expressions on their faces remained frozen as the regions of their bodies separated company and fell to the cold floor.

"You little bastard!" The guard snarled launching himself at the boy, only to have his sword deflected by the same barrier as before. A cruel smirk crossed Phobos's features as he reached out and let a ball of energy fly from his hand launching the man through the air only to land with enough force to break nearly every bone in his body, killing him instantly.

Will couldn't deny she was appalled by what happened, she wasn't sure who to be more upset with. Of course they all deserved it and a part of her was saying they deserved it, and she knew they did, but Phobos was still only a child and forced to do that. And it didn't even seem to faze him. At least not at first, after standing there for several minutes he fell limply to the ground sobbing loudly.

It wasn't until about an hour later when guards came in on their rounds to find the mess and piece two and two together. He called for more guards before going to check on Phobos. Will realized with not so little relief, that not all guards were cruel to the boy as the man tried his best to comfort the young prince while several more guards appeared and started arguing. Some demanded the prince's execution while others praised what he did and called for a revolution.

As Will watched what was going on, she found to her great astonishment it was like sitting in the midst of a giant universal chessboard. This was the defining moment which in the years to come would shape the Meridian she and the others would come to know. Because all of the key players were here and now, by looking at each person there she could see what they would do in the immediate future. The loyalist to the queen would be the beginning of the rebellion, but since there was so few of them they were outnumbered and had no choice to leave and look for supporters among the people since their assassination attempt failed.

The guards that were happy to be rid of the cruel and hateful Queen rejoiced in being rid of her. They pledged their loyalty to Phobos and began the first of his guards and helped put him in the seat of power. They helped set up a new government with the prince in charge, a few of them guiding him and teaching him what he needed to know.

Sadly there was one who abused Phobos's trust in order to make as much as he could off the misfortune of everyone else. He guided and steered Phobos down a darker road than he would have taken by himself and made him seem more vicious and cruel than he was as the man did things behind the prince's back while claiming they were royal orders. It was what added fuel to the rebel's campaign and made it grow as much as it did.

One of the guards though was a woman, the head of the royal forces. She did care for her queen as she knew a softer side of the woman, though she didn't appreciate the way the Queen treated the Prince. She and her husband remained neutral in the whole affair, not wanting to join the rebels as they knew that in the end the Queen and her meek-hearted Consort had only reaped what they had sowed. Of course they didn't want to stay with the prince either since they knew he would survive easily now without the Heart. She was one of the only people who knew the truth since she was the Queen's closest confidant, the only person Weira had to talk to. She was afraid that the prince would try and take back what belonged to him, in turn killing an innocent baby, so they took Elyon away to earth.

The man who helped guide Phobos down the darker path was the one responsible for convincing Phobos that he needed the power back from Elyon. He was behind getting Phobos to start searching for Elyon in order to regain what Weira took from him. The man met his end though when he showed his true colors by selling information to the rebels, earning him a slow, painful death at the hands of his fellow guards when caught.

What disturbed Will even more was when she saw where Cedric and Miranda came from as the visions kept speeding up, shoving more and more memories into her mind. She felt as bad for Miranda as she saw the girl's own father molesting her. She saw Cedric stand up to him and get beaten for it. Phobos came across it and had the man dragged to the mines as he took Miranda and Cedric back to the castle to protect them. They quickly became very close friends, almost like family. Phobos offered both of them a gift to help protect them from ever being hurt again, something he found when doing research on magic. He let each pick out a creature which Phobos imbued the essences of into both Cedric and Miranda, giving them their hybrid forms.

Sadly Zhaan wasn't able to regain her eyesight back as the damage was too severe and Phobos didn't have the control to heal something like that. Despite him begging her to stay at the castle Zhaan declined saying it had too many bad memories for her. She did ask Phobos to take in her remaining sister and look after her, which the prince did.

Gasping, Will sat up in her bed clutching at her chest and looking around. She was in her bedroom at the castle which she was thankful for. Reaching under the pillow she searched for the pendant, but was surprised to find it missing. She shouldn't have been so shocked that it was missing though since it was magic and all.

She did have some of her questions answered which she was thankful for. She did need some things cleared up though and decided another visit to Zhaan was maybe a good idea. She also had a lot more things to think about though now, including her mother. She felt so lucky after seeing what not only happened to Phobos, but Cedric and Miranda as well.

* * *

Cedric sat on the corner of his bed, only wearing a pair of sleeping shorts as he hated wearing much when sleeping. No matter if it was cold or hot, in his human form he was always comfortable thanks to his prince's gift. Of course he wasn't exactly completely comfortable at the moment as Elyon was in his lap, straddling him as she faced him. He held her around the waist as they looked into each other's eyes.

"Princess, I do care for you, love you even, but this is a little too fast." Cedric sighed sadly. A part of him wanted what the girl was offering, parts of his body making it painfully obvious to just how much he wanted it. He loved her too much to take advantage of her in her moment of weakness knowing she would resent it later on.

"I love you to." Elyon sighed as she leaned in and captured his lips again, her hands going for the belt holding her robe closed. Cedric's hands stopped her though, holding her hands before bringing them to his lips and kissing the back of them before holding them to his chest.

"Elyon, I promise you that nothing will happen to you. I love you too much, and your brother cares about you to. I've seen the changes in him since you came, and now with Will here there are even more changes in him." Cedric whispered. He almost wished that she didn't find out, but she did. It didn't change how she felt about anyone here though as Cedric told her everything. She understood that Phobos was dying with only the power from the ley lines running through Metamoor sustaining his life energies. She understood that their mother did this to him and the only way fix it was by sacrificing her own life. She didn't want to die, especially not without sharing at least one night with the man she couldn't deny loving with her entire being.

"I don't want him to die, but I don't want to die either without showing you how much I care for you." Elyon said as tears started to flow.

"Shhh, you won't die and neither will Phobos." Cedric said kissing her forehead while wiping away her tears with his thumbs. "Elyon, stay here with me tonight, but not for that. We can share a lot just by being close. We have plenty of time to think about other things later on."

"Thank you, Cedric." Elyon sighed as she leaned into Cedric's chest, his arms wrapping around her and pulling her tight. He swore he would protect her, and come hell or high water he would.


End file.
